HADAS DIARY
Tuesday 12 January The Royal Exchange given by our new President, Dr Ann Saunders F.S.A., Ph D. Particular attention of this lecture will be focused on to the building of the third, present, Exchange and to the archaeological discoveries and arguments surrounding it.
Tuesday 9 February Lecture: Villa of the Mysteries by Paul Roberts.
Tuesday 9 March Lecture: Sam Moorhead – “Letters, curses and landed gentry in Roman Britain”.
(Not prehistoric as previously announced)
Lectures for 1999 will be in the Drawing Room (ground floor) at Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley, N3
Brockley Hill, Bury Farm Fieldwalking Project
Work on bulk identification of finds should have been completed by the New Year at Avenue House. After which work will continue marking and quantifying the pottery – fabric, form, date, types and so forth. This is not (always) as daunting as it seems and gives a good opportunity to handle such material at first hand. Contact Vikki O’ Connor on 0181 361 1350 or Brian Wrigley 0181 959 5982 if you wish to take part on Sundays or most Wednesdays.
On Saturday 14th November Fiona Seeley of The Museum of London Finds and Environmental Service held a successful workshop at the Old Training Centre, r/o Hertford Lodge, Avenue House, showing and advising members the finer points of Roman pottery identification. Fabrics such as Verulamium Region Ware, Brockley Hill Slip Ware, Colour Coated and the odd sherd of Samian Ware were studied under various lenses. Hopefully this will all be remembered for the next phase of the project!
Some of the most interesting glass sherds from the fieldwalking were taken to John Sheperd at The London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (L4ARC). They were identified as being from a 17th ‘cloche’ – an early form of bell-jar to help grow and propagate plants. These were large and fragile vessels, the manufacture and transport of which must have been a difficult and hazardous affair. We also have an invitation to return so that we can study and compare the material/archive of earlier Brockley Hill excavations with the finds – pottery & tile etc. from our recent fieldwalking.
AN APPEAL
The above is a small illustration of how useful a facility such as the L44RC project can be for London’s archaeological societies. The staff are now fully installed at Eagle Wharf Road, Hackney – working on the archive, various projects and publications – but are not open to the public. Also the Centre can now, once again, accept finds and records from London’s excavations for storage. At present they are waiting for the result of their bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund so that they can convert the building into a major Centre for public access to the archive (see April ’98 Newsletter) – but they also need public support….
To this end the HADAS Committee are supporting the Museum of London’s appeal for donations to the project from all local London societies and interested bodies. Please send any contributions, however large or small, to the Hon. Treasurer, Micky O’Flynn (address on last page), cheques payable to HADAS, they will be then sent as one donation from the Society, thank you.
The November Lecture – Bronze Brass and Zinc in ancient and modern China
by Paul Craddock
This was a most interesting talk on ancient metallurgical technology. Paul’s last lecture to us was in 1990, on zinc production in India, and this lecture followed the story on to China – well he spent a little time reminding us of what he said before in case we did not all rememher, although I think most of us did
Production of zinc as a metal has the problem that it vaporises at a temperature below that of which it can be smelted from its ore: thus the process has to include one of distillation of hot zinc vapour Distillation was done earliest in India, using a furnace containing clay retorts pack with ore and appropriate reacting materials, the neck of the retort protruding downwards through the furnace floor to a cool chamber where the zinc vapour condensed. This is thought to have started in the 10th century BC.
By the 16th century, India had a world-wide export trade in zinc, whilst china had none, but China took the industry up and by the end of the century dominated the international market. They used a technique varying from the Indian, in that the clay retort was larger, and the other way up, ie the furnace heat was to the closed bottom of the retort, whilst the open top had a closed lid with, below it, above the heated charge of ore and coal, was a saucer-shaped lid, round which the vapours could pass, the zinc vapour then condensing on the upper surface of the ‘saucer’. Large numbers of retorts would be packed in rows in a large furnace.
What was particularly amazing was that Paul was able to show us a video of these techniques still being used when he was in China in 1995 – by rural groups competing with industrial works. The techniques have evolved somewhat, for example the furnace is now a building, with a single fire outside, the flames from which are guided by channels in amongst the neat rows of charged retorts.
A most interesting and informative lecture for anyone interested in ancient technology Brian Wrigley
Membership News
Our current membership is around the 290 mark and the following are our latest additions – Richard Riding, Mrs P. Baker, Ms M. Baker, Lisa Todd, Melanie Lloyd, Mrs S Ross, Richard Askew, Jacqueline Schofield, Hugh Hamilton, Emily Towers, Stephen Brunning. We welcome them to HADAS and hope they will find time to participate in our activities. It is gratifying that several of our more recent members have been active on the Brockley Hill fieldwalking project. We are planning more work for you next year
Incidently, if anyone is attending archaeology classes and would like a couple of membership forms to pass round please give me a call – Vikki O’Connor
Audree Price-Davies reports on The Wroxeter Hinterland Survey lecture given by Roger White Being computer-ignorant and knowing nothing about the Wroxeter Hinterland Survey are not the best qualifications for writing up a lecture on the subject. However the lecture was clear informative and very interesting.
The Romans decided to build a new town in the NW Midlands. This area was not exposed to Roman trade or influence and the native population lived largely in hill-forts or enclosures. The project was aimed at investigating the evidence for the Romanisation of the hinterland. To this end every possible means of investigation was used -technological in the use of a geographical Information System (GIS), which can cope with a large range of data, and also traditional methods such as fieldwalking, small-scale excavation and metal detected finds. Volunteers were recruited and 400 people worked on the project. Some foreign teams were also represented – from France, Japan, Germany and Canada.
The excavation covered Many of the sites of the Cornovii tribe – at Meole Brace and at Duncote Farm over 2000 pieces of pottery were found. A pattern emerged – Roman pottery scatters followed the main roads, so Roman life seems to be a thinly applied veneer where people acquired pottery if it was easy to do so. In addition, prehistoric flintwork as well as Roman and Medieval pottery were found near existing farms. This may perhaps indicate that Shropshire settlement patterns has a great deal of continuity more villa sites may be masked by later farms.
One of the villa sites was excavated. Whitley Grange,. 4 miles SW of Shrewsbury and 9 miles west of Wroxeter was chosen. The excavation revealed a set of baths and a swimming pool around a central courtyard and at right angles, a central room with a smaller room at each side. The main room had its mosaic floor still mostly preserved and was credited to the W.Midlands school and was dated 350-375 AD. The baths were used possibly up to 550 AD and afterwards there was squatter occupation. But this was not a villa as there were no bedrooms or living rooms. It could have been a hunting lodge or dacha, such villas were popular among the late Roman aristocracy, or it could have been a ritual site.
The geophysical surveys and aerial photographs are being used to reconstitute Wroxeter buildings in Virtual Reality and this will help us to understand this complex site and the surrounding countryside.
See ‘Current Archaeology’ 157 for further details of this large scale survey.
News of Members
Philip yenning FSA a member for many years and was active on the West Heath excavation team, has recently joined the newly created Westminster Abbey Rihric Commission whose job is to advise on all works to the Abbey including archaeology.
Marjorie Errington is temporarily in The Cottage Homes, Bedford House, Hammers Lane, Mill Hill, London NW7 4DR. She would be glad to here from friends.
Freda Wilkinson is out of hospital and home again, she was also at West Heath and dug with Ted Sammes at Church Terrace, Hendon. Freda, an expert on flint artefacts still takes a keen interest in archaeology and the activities of HADAS. Prior to his illness Ted visited her in Hendon, and now Margaret Maher keeps her up to date with HADAS when she visits her.
From Dave Bromley
Dear Dorothy,
Can Graham and I, through you, thank all our friends in HADAS for all their kind words and support during this difficult time for us both. It helps to know that Pat was held in such high regard, and will be missed by so many. We were overwhelmed by the number who attended her funeral and can we thank those from HADAS who were there and those who donated to the collection, this raised to date £1010.00 and I have passed cheque’s for this amount to the Friends of the Royal Free. They will hold this money until a request is received for a specific piece of equipment for the Friend Oncology Day Ward, they thought this would be more appropriate than just using it in the general ward fund. They will send details when this is finalised. Once again thank you all.
Museum News
Good news landed at the RAF Museum at Hendon, on December 2nd it was confirmed- that the Heritage Lottery Fund have agreed to award a development grant of £79,200 to undertake further feasibility studies into the museums expansion project outlined in Oct 1997. Additionally, the fund have approved in principle a further sum of £4,562,800 towards the construction of a new landmark building for the display of the collections and to expand the recently opened fun ‘n’ flight interactive gallery. It is also hoped to move the Graham White hanger to the new site, eventually displaying the collection of earlier aeroplanes, This sum is dependent on the Museum completing its designs within the agreed financial limits and raising a ‘further £1,000,000 to support the project.
A lottery grant of £851,200 has also enabled the Verulamium Museum, St Albans to open their new extension, this features an impressive new rotunda entrance, shop and colonnade, new Iron Age displays and introductory ‘virtual reality’ video. Other areas have been expanded such as the conservation lab, photographic studio and storage rooms. Processing of the finds, including 500 coins, from the preceeding excavation is advancing well, the potential for additional information from this site is enormous, with an almost complete sequence of archaeology running from the earliest Roman town through to the 1930s and the building of the Museum.
Any members who visited the British Museum recently will have not failed to see that work on the Great Court scheme is taking shape and on target for its opening in autumn 2000. Oversailing The Reading Room and surrounding quadrangle, without visible means of support, will be a stupendous glass roof, 6000 sq. m in area, covering the entire two-acre central space. The cost of the whole project is £97 million with a whopping £45.75 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Stars In Their Eyes
Any couch potato members who were watching the ‘mid-week’ lottery draw on Wed 25th November may have just spotted two HADAS diggers lurking in the audience. There was an archaeological theme that night – ‘The Salcombe Bay Treasure’. The story concerned a team of amateur divers working twelve miles off Devon’s coastline finding and recovering 400 gold coins, gold ingots, pottery fragments, lead weights and other objects. This important find was properly reported to the Receiver of Wrecks (remains of the actual wreck have not yet been located), the site was immediately designated. The unknown vessel is likely to have been sailing from Morocco to England when it sank. The coins and jewellery are almost all Moroccan dating to around the 1630s or 1640s – the largest assemblage of Islamic gold coins found in England.
The BBC on these occasions like to involve an audience (almost) related to the subject. Thus Andy Simpson and your Editor, through the good offices of HADAS Secretary Denis Ross found themselves under the bright lights of the TV Centre, together with a motley crew from the Institute of Archaeology. Order of events went something like this – rehearsals/ food & drink/ Carol Smillie’s interview with the divers/ food & drink/ short film of the wreck site/ lottery draw live with John wotsisnarne of the white gloves/ free ticket – didn’t win sobt/ lots of clapping/ off air. Andy wonders if Carol needed an assistant..
The finds are now on display in the British Museum’s Money Gallery – who hope to acquire them, full story in the Spring 1998 BM Magazine. Work on the wreck site will continue.
Pisa cake
During early December there was a further attempt to stabalise The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Under the scheme, plastic-covered cables 338ft long and four inched thick are being attached to the second loggia of the tower at a height of 70ft. Built in 1173 as the campanile (belltower) of the adjoining cathedral, the tower leans about 15ft out of true in a southward direction. The idea being to remove soil from the northrn side to correct the tilt “fractionally”.
THE TIMES 12/12/98
Realms of the Maya (and hurricanes) by Bill Bass
Our first site was Chichen Itza on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula – an amazing introduction to Mayan architecture. This is one of the best preserved Mayan cities, here amongst other platforms and structures laid out over a wide area are pyramids, temples, ball courts, steam baths, an observatory and a spectacular natural well 60m deep x 35m used for sacred purposes. It is thought that Chichen Itza (the Mouth of the Well of the Itzaes) was first settled during the Late Classic period between 550 and 900 AD. Shortly thereafter Chichen was invaded by the Toltecs, who had moved down from their central-highlands capital of Tula, north of the present-day Mexico City. Thus there is a fusion of images from the two cultures to be seen as we walked around, many where of Chac – an important Mayan rain god.
The sun god was not slacking either as it was in the 90s, so it came as a relief to walk the 300m through the leafy jungle to the Sacred Cenote (the natural well). Hundreds of artefacts have been dredged from here including gold and jade- jewellery, along with skeletons of men, women and – mostly – children. We spot a large Iguana basking in the sun apparently not bothered by the attention. Back at the Main Plaza we could examine the El Castillo temple/pyramid which is in fact the Mayan calendar formed in stone with terraces, stairways and panels all equating to their days, months and years. This pyramid was built over a previous version – a regular occurrence of all Mayan building, earlier structures were built over every 52 years or so. We were able to climb a passage inside the older pyramid to a chamber which boasted a brilliant red jaguar throne with inlaid eyes of jade. Inside it was hot, sweltering, slippery experience, once outside we climbed the 25m to the top – an archaeological assault course! But it was worth it as you could survey the whole of this magnificent site.
Travelling by public transport we reached Merida – capital of the state of Yucatan. This was a centre of Mayan culture before the Spanish conquest (1542), now a pleasant colonial town of narrow streets, parks and squares. Merida’s Cathedral was built on the side of a Mayan temple – incorporating some of the stone, it was completed in 1598 – therefore celebrating its 400th anniversary.
Rising from the Yucatan plain are the Puce Hills, home to Uxmal, an extensive city dating from 600-900AD. Puce also gives its name to the local architecture – a hypnotic form of repetitive geometric design including serpent imagery, columns, phallic symbols and our friend Chac – the rain god who was needed here, given The lack of water in this region. Many of the ruins have been restored, while others, a little more than piles of stone _await their tun Buildings include the 39.m high Pyramid of the Magician – unusual in that it was built on an oval base, this being the 5th incarnation. The Governor’s Palace is a massive building said to be one of the finest specimens of Mayan architecture. Also impressive was a courtyard complex named the Quadrangle of the Nuns as it somewhat resembles a cloister. In fact, no-one knows for certain what purpose it served, perhaps a palace. The structure which is entered by a fine corbelled arch, is covered by intricate lattice and fretwork decoration with masks of gods and mythical beings. Elsewhere, a large stone/platform area had been gridded and opened for excavation – a lot of work for somebody, no archaeologists were on site as it was a Sunday. At another site, Palenque, an opportunity was taken to fly over the site in a mierolight at sunrise in the still, early morning air – an excellent highlight.
As the panoramic road climbs steeply from humid rainforest through pine forest and cloud, the temperature gradually becomes fresher. San Cristobal de Las Casas (2,100 metres) is an attractive colonial town with a colourful, busy market and several churches. A particularly fine example is Santo Domingo, built by 1560, with a spectacular baroque facade added in the 17th century. We stayed at the Hotel Na Bolom which previously had been the home of Danish archaeologist Frans Blom, who died in 1963 and his Swiss wife, the anthropologist and photographer Gertrude Duby-Blom_ The hotel now preserves photographs,. books (14,000)–aFtefaots and ,so on .from Moir work; they shared a passion for -the Chiapas region particularly the Lacandon Indians.
We took a tour of some of the local Tzotzil and Tzeltal Indian villages. For most of the colonial era San Cristobal’s Spanish citizens made their fortunes – usually from wheat – at the cost of the Indians, who lost their lands and suffered diseases, taxes and forced labour. Not much seems to have changed as in early January 1994 the Zapatista National Liberation Army representing Mexico’s (and especially Chiapa’s) oppressed Indians, seized San Cristobal by force of arms. Though the rebellion was suppressed by the Mexican army within a matter of weeks (there are still many army road-blocks) resentment still goes on, in spite of Golrernment promises to improve matters with recent peace talks. The Indians welcome (tolerate?) tourists as they can publicise their cause and also sell home-made produce and crafts – mainly elaborately woven goods. On entering the village church at San Juan Chamula you’re greeted with an amazing sight – a carpet of burning candles and incense, around the walls are many images and statues of various Saints. Amongst this scene huddled worshippers kneel praying to religious deities but also making offerings to the spirits of the ancestors buried nearby – a complete mixture of Catholic and shaman/pagan practice.
We reached the Guatemalan border via the Pan-American highway which then skirts 3,800 metre high peaks of the Sierra de Chumatanes our destination being Lake Atitlan and the town of Panjachel. The lake, some 10 miles long by 6 miles wide, is overlooked by an outstanding panoramic view of three volcanoes which are reflected perfectly in the lakeside water, the lake itself is a collapsed cone 320 metres deep. Some of the many villages surrounding the lake were explored by boat, three separate languages are spoken by the different Indian groups clustered round the lake, A short ride away is Chichicastenango famous for its large market on Thursday and Sunday (today). The stalls are many, varied and packed into narrow alleyways and any other nooks and crannies, the place is a sea of people – tourists and locals, there’s nothing for it but to dive in and get swept along. Everything is sold here: food produce, leather goods, household, pottery, clothes and much else_ The locals are colourful in their traditional clothing – the styles, patterns and colours used by each village are unique. A refuge is sought in the two churches which oppose each other across the market square and a small local museum of Mayan objects including pots, figurines, flint and obsidian spearheads, collected by the local residents over the years, there is also a beautiful jade display.
Outside the town most of the local population live in scattered villages, ranches, or else on small crofts and farms clinging to the hills, many lived in very basic housing – thatched mud brick or wooden tin-roofed structures_ Making a living from corn/maize and other arable products with perhaps a few animals. Often they were to be seen walking their produce to the local market or waiting for a lift at the roadside_
Antigua was a former capital until a series of earthquakes devastated the town forcing the capital to move a few miles south-east to the present site at Guatemala City in 1776. Antigua is a picturesque place full of ruined and restored colonial buildings many of which can (and were) visited – churches, convents and colleges etc, or you can just wander round, there’s a pleasant cosmopolitan feel to the place. It’s difficult to get lost here as the area is dominated by volcanoes, particularly Volcan Agua in the south-east, which could be seen towering over most parts of the city.
By now we begin to hear of a hurricane developing in the Caribbean Sea but information is hard to come by as nobody is sure where it’s heading.
A domestic flight from Guatemala City takes us from the highlands down to Flores, capital of the Peters region. Here we are back in the steamy heat of the tropics – the dense Peten rainforest lies in the centre of the southern Yucatan Peninsular, covering a vast range which extends to the borders with Mexico and Belize. Flores town stands on a island in Lake Peten-ltza, connected by a causeway to the mainland. This is a base to visit the vast Mayan complex of Tikal located in a national park – a 575 sq km preserve containing thousands of separate ruined structures. The central area of the city occupied about 16 sq km with more than 4,000 structures. Tikal was settled by the Mayans in c.700 BC, one reason may have been the abundance of flint nearby, with the subsequent trade and exchange for other goods brought prosperity and the start of
monumental building c.500 BC. By the dawn of the Early Classic Period about 250AD Tikal had become an important religious, cultural and commercial city with a large population.
We are at the site very early in the morning, there’s an eerie sound of howler monkeys calling from the forest. It’s still dark and torches are needed to follow our guide and the trail. Our first objective is Temple IV, and 64m high structure, much of which is covered in trees and has to be climbed by ladders, but once at the top there is again breathtaking views for miles over the forest with the tops of other temples emerging from the forest canopy. From here we have an excellent 5-hour tour winding around the various plazas, acropolis, palaces and pyramids, also taking in flora and fauna – monkeys, bats, toucans and colourful wild turkeys. Here also monuments are being excavated and restored by the University of Pennsylvania and Guatemala Institute of Anthropology and History – I wondered whether they had any vacancies…
Our route should have taken us across the border to Belize but, due to hurricane Mitch, Belize City was being evacuated and the borders closed. Returning to Guatemala City was not an option as it was being affected by high winds and heavy rain. Mitch decides to move inland and hits Honduras and Nicaragua and those living there with devastating effect. It’s decided to head west and north, crossing back to Mexico by the river Usumacinta eventually reaching Villahermosa in the Tabasco region.
Here we can visit the La Yenta Parque Museo which houses artefacts and carvings from the site of an Olmec settlement of La Yenta. Petroleum excavation in the 1950s forced the removal of the most significant objects 123 km west to Villahermosa, and are now arranged in a ‘jungle’ setting/park similar to their original site. The Olmec culture dates from 1500 BC and flourished from 800BC to 200AD and they are best known for their sculptured massive basalt heads – the largest of which weighs 24 tons and stands more than 2m tall.
We flew from Cancun – mostly developed into a tourist resort area, a complete contrast to the open green countryside of the Yucatan dotted with the sites, towns and villages of the Maya and their descendants. Their rich heritage deserves a return visit in the future.
Echoing to the sound of the sacred Quetzal ?
A suggestion that the ancient Mayans built a pyramid to echo like the call of a sacred bird, marking perhaps the world’s oldest sound recording, has been put forward at a meeting of acoustic researchers. Handclaps evoke chirped echoes from the staircases of the pyramid of Kulkulkan at Chichen Itza, Mexico. David Lubman said ” What is very interesting is that the chirped echo sounds arguably like the primary call of the Mayan sacred bird – the Quetzal, could the Maya have intentionally coded this sound into the pyramid architecture? I think this is possible. In the millennium since this pyramid was built, though plaster has eroded from the limestone staircases, the sound is still recognisable,” A Mayan glyph from the Dresden Codex makes the connection between the pyramid of Kulkukan and the Quetzal.” This magnificent bird, now near extinction, has for many years represented the spirit of the Maya”, he said. (The Daily Telegraph)
Fleet Street Corner with Stephen Aleck
Archaeologists have been, excavating Britain’s ‘most complete’ Roman town-house, at Colliton Park, Dorchester, with the help of a £300,000 grant from Dorset County Council. The site has been known for sixty years, but it was abandoned at the start of the war, and covered with soil to preserve it. A new glass roofed stone structure has been built, based on the original foundations, to enclose the site. It is planned to open it to the public in early 2000. A particularly interesting feature is the well preserved floor mosaics, which visitors will be allowed to walk on ( – with care, presumably).
The Times 24111/98
Members who are offered dodgy footprints at car boot sales should note the following, from the Evening Standard, 27/1 l /981
‘Australian police are targeting Europe in the hunt for a fossilised dinosaur footprint believed to be 120 million years old.
It follows the arrest of two men who have been charged with stealing the fossil and other rare human footprints from an Aboriginal site near Broome in Western Australia. The artefacts could fetch hundreds of pounds on the black market.
Dates for your New Year diary:
Following The Archaeology of Towns in England lectures at the Institute of Archaeology, the-1999 series continues on Thursdays 7.00pm with The Archaeology of Landscape – and starts with:
21 January, The Anatomy of Midland Landscapes, Tony Brown/University of Leicester
28 January, Late Prehistoric Landscapes in Northern Britain: Desertion or Continuity, Rob Young/Leicester 4 February, Approaches to the Roman Landscape in Spain, Simon Keay/University of Southampton
Fee: £40/£20 concessions, single lectures £5/£2.50, more details Birkbeck College – 0171 631 6686
Birkbeck are also running an Anglo-Saxon England course with Dave Beard as lecturer. Starts Monday 11th January 1999 2.00pm – 4.00pm for 24 meetings. Fee: £102/£51. Contact Anna Colloms on the above number.
23 January, CONFERENCE London Bodies: generations past – The discovery, care and investigation of human remains will be discussed by experts from many fields. Tickets £16/10, contact Interpretation Unit on 0171 600 3699.
The Museum of London are presenting some of their lunchtime lectures in connection with the London Bodies exhibition, Fridays 1.10pm 50 mins’
15 January, Anne Mowbray: a medieval princess – specialists shed new light on medieval diet, costume and burial customs. Bill White and John Clark.
29 January, Shaping the queen: the cut and construction of the Phoenix dress – Jean Hunnisett’s lecture will explore the construction of the clothes which created the Elizabethan shape.
16 January, Mastering mosaic – a one day workshop at the Museum of London, 10.30am-4pm.
Learn the ancient, but newly fashionable, art of mosaic in a day. Find out about London’s stunning Roman mosaics from a museum expert and then learn the basic techniques from a qualified mosaic artist. Tickets £30/£25, contact Interpretation Unit on 0171 600 3699.
Barnet & District Local History Society
Their opening lecture of the new year is Mediaeval Embroidery & Embroiderers by Kay Staniland. At Wesley Hall, Stapylton Road, Barnet. Monday 11th January, 2.45 for 3.00pm start .
St Mary’s Church on The Ridgeway, Mill Hill have had a beautiful scale model built of nearby Belmont House complete with fixtures and fittings. The dolls house 3ft tall and 211 4ins wide (valued at £15.000) is being raffled to raise funds for the Church Hall, it can be viewed in Mayfields of Mill Hill Broadway during January. The full scale house was built in 1772 in the style of Robert Adams, the architect being James Paine Junior. Features include Georgian furniture and a spiral staircase surmounted by a glass lantern. The structure still stands now owned by Belmont School, a few alterations have been made but the general style remains intact.
If you like to buy one of the raffle tickets, send a SEA to Janette Poulton, 5 Parkside, Mill Hill, NW7. Tickets are £1 for one or £5 for a book of five.
