NEWSLETTER
:206 MAY 1988 Edited by Anne Lawson
DIARY
SUNDAY
MAY 1ST AFTERNOON OUTING TO THE ARMADA EXHIBITION at the
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Any late-comers wishing to go on this
outing should ring Dorothy Newbury on 203 0950 to see if there are any
cancellations or spare places on the coach.
TUESDAY
MAY 10TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING We would like to start the
AGM at 8.15 or 8.20 if possible as we have an interesting programme to follow.
Our first speaker will be SYLVIA BEAMON on Ice-Houses. Subscribers to
"Current Archaeology" will have read her interesting report in the
July 1987 issue (No. 105). Mrs. Beamon lives in Royston and first became
interested in underground structures through the Royston Cave, a subject on
which she delivered a paper in France in 1974. This led her to the study of
ice-houses and she delivered another paper in France in 1975 to a conference of
the French Society. She is now writing a book with Susan Roaf, "The Ice-
Houses of Great Britain" which includes a list of 3000 known ice-houses.
Ice-houses were built as part of our stately homes from the 16-17 century but
Sylvia Beamon has traced the use of ice for storing food back to 140,000 BC.
This talk, with slides, will be of particular
interest to HADAS as this summer we hope to settle, once and for all, "The
Mystery of the Mound" at the rear of Hendon Town Hall and the Convent. Is
it an Ice- House? If and when we have excavated perhaps Mrs. Beamon will come
back and give us her expert opinion.
BRYAN WRIGLEY our second speaker, and Hon Secretary
of HADAS, will give us a talk of a very different nature - "Sword fighting
in the Bronze Age". This is a subject which Bryan has studied for many
years, on which he delivered a paper at the Congress of Independent Archaeologists
last year.
GILLIAN BRAITHWAITE our third speaker is a committee
member and organised the Brockley Hill (Sulloniacae) excavation last year. Her
report was sent out with our January Newsletter and at the AGM she will show us
slides and give a short talk on the excavation. So you see we have a full
evening. An early start to the AGM would be helpful, and hopefully we will
whizz through the business side in our usual record time.
SATURDAY
MAY 14TH OUTING TO WINDSOR - TED SAMMES Details and
applications form enclosed.
SATURDAY
JUNE 11TH OUTING TO FLAG FEN AND PETERBOROUGH Dr Francis
Pryor
SATURDAY
JULY 16TH OUTING TO LONDON DOCKLAND
SATURDAY
AUG 20TH OUTING TO BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
DERBYSHIRE
WEEKEND Unfortunately Peter Griffiths who was organising
this weekend has been away in America for the past 5 months and the hostel
booking could not be confirmed in time. However, he is back now and is doing
his best to arrange an alternative. More news later.
For the benefit of New Members, an application form
goes out with the Newsletter, either for the month, or the preceding month of
the relevant outing. You are advised to return it as soon as possible as some
outings are oversubscribed. Acceptance is not notified, but if you wish to be
sure the post has not let you down, please ring Dorothy Newbury 203 0950 to
confirm. Also, to all members, if you decide late that you want to go, even up
to the night before, please ring the above number as we do have late
cancellations, and sometimes not a full coach anyway. Our numbers fell on some
of our trips last year, which of course means we run at a loss, as cost is
always based upon a full coach. So please keep our outing dates free if you
possibly can.
"MEMBERSHIP
SECRETARY"
Thanks to all for sending me your subscriptions
during April. As I shall be out and about from home during mid-May to mid-July,
please keep sending your subs to my address or c/o Victor Jones, The Treasurer,
78 Temple Fortune Lane, London 1W11 7TT. I shall send you receipts later.
Also if you know anyone who is interested in joining
the Society please let Victor Jones know and he will send them an application
form.
Many thanks in advance. Phyllis Fletcher - Membership Secretary
IN
THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ANCIENT TOMB BUILDERS Betty Jacobs & Joan Pratt
Egypt has been a tourist attraction since Greek and
Roman times. Herodotus writes vividly of his visits, as subsequent travellers
have done since. Then as now appeal centred on monumental sites, the temples
and tombs built for the worship of Gods or glorification of reigning monarchs,
his family and sometimes collaterally powerful high priests. To the ancient
Egyptians, to be unnamed was to cease to exist, so their monuments are
carefully inscribed in hieroglyphs telling us of names and achievements of the
dead.
Bonus No.1 is that the ancient Egyptians wrote it
all down, and Bonus No. 2 is that Champollion decoded the hieroglyphs so that
we can identify the higher echelons of Egyptian life thousands of years after
their entry into the hereafter.
The native Egyptian, the fellahin, has left few
traces for the archaeologist to work on, but what of the craftsmen who created
the Royal monuments and embellished them so that to this day they are a source
of wonder. Thanks to climate and the propensity for sand to bury whole sites, the
underlying material is left intact awaiting the archaeologist's trowel. Not
belonging to the aristocracy, these highly skilled workmen are represented
nowhere in the monuments they created. But their anonymity ended with the
discovery of the village of Deir el-Medina which was their home for 400 years
while they were at work on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Here some
fifty specially chosen stonemasons, carpenters, draftsmen and painters lived
with their families in a segregated community, guarded by special police,
supplied with tools and provisions “by regular and special delivery" and
under the direct control of the Pharaoh. The secrecy of their work necessitated
isolation from the general populace, and their entire life was spent within their
community. Sand has preserved the outline of the houses, streets and tombs of
their villages. Likewise limestone flakes and papyri were found with names,
cartoons and doodles, combining to give us vivid insight into the life style of
these extraordinary craftsmen. We know they had a ten day week, working eight
days on the tombs with overnight stays in temporary huts nearby, but it is the
home village which gives us records of barter, absenteeism, quarrels, lawsuits,
human touches with names and caricatures. In their spare time they applied
their crafts to the communal construction of their own tombs in the village,
small scale replicas of the Royal originals, exquisitely executed and
poignantly personal.
Very early one morning with the mists still hovering
over the Nile two intrepid HADAS members "past middle age" left the
main party among much misgiving and shock horror from the tour guide to follow
in the footsteps of the ancient Tomb Builders. We knew they had made this
journey every 10 days, setting out from their village of Deir el-Medina
carrying with them their tools, they in 1500 BC, we two in 1988.
Azib in his taxi had taken us to the village from
our hotel and with much head-shaking had left us to our own devices.
From our balcony on the East bank of the Nile our
binoculars had shown us a distant view of Hatshepsut's temple and we had
resolved not to leave Thebes without attempting this pilgrimage. As we set out
with water, pills and creams instead of tools, and having left details of our
route to the rescue party, the silence and the surrounding beauty was total.
Azib was to meet us again in five hours at Deir el-Rahri.
Following a bowed horse-show shaped route over the
cliffs to the apex, from which the descending path leads down the Valley of the
Kings, we would retrace our steps to rejoin the horse-shoe and follow the other
limb and so arrive at the far extremity of Hatshepsut's temple at Deir
el-Rahri.
A perplexity of paths posed a problem but the
pyramid-shaped mountain peak known as Meritsegar, the Serpent Goddess,
"she who loves silence" keeps watch over the whole valley. As we
climbed and the mist lifted the whole village ground plan was revealed. The
pure sparkling air - the uninterrupted view of desert, cultivation and the
river was like magic. On we climbed in utter silence and feeling outside
ourselves we relived the journey of those special men. The trace was well
defined and circled along the cliff top, it was hard to resist the temptation
to get ever nearer the edge for a better view of the Valley below, which to our
astonishment revealed details like the depressions where tamarisk trees had
been planted over 3,000 years ago - details not identifiable at ground level.
The overall vastness of the Temple complex is nowhere suggested by the frontal
approach of the tourist group - and we were overawed by our eagle’s eye view of
what had been created down there.
Behind us was the vast hinterland of cliffs leading
up to Meritsegar at whose feet we sat to drink in the panorama stretched out
before us - a vast theatrical backdrop of row upon row of mountain cliffs with
linen fold facings and flat tops, so that a giant (or a God) could step over
from one to another, each range presenting a wide spectrum of golden brown
shades (and we were alone, quite alone, having met not a soul on our one-hour
climb) though far below, deep in the Valley we could see human ants queuing to
enter the Tomb of Tutankhamun, while we, out of this world looked on.
Exhilarated and well pleased with ourselves we
retraced our steps to the other limb of the horse-shoe path, encircling widely
Hatshepsut's Temple. The downward path was more difficult with some footholds
precarious and poorly spaced. However down we slid rather inelegantly to the
far perimeter of the Temple of this female pharaoh whose life story is so
controversial. To her and to the men who created her Temple we took our own
brand of respect, marvelling at the beauty of it all. Down at ground level
again, we joined the motley groups of tourists, but for two of them the
grandeur of this Temple will always be augmented by our memory of the
magnificence of its setting - what a place to spend eternity!
True to his word, Azib awaited us and we were able
to reassure him that it was an altogether satisfying experience, which we
recommend to all like- minded, eccentric Egyptian-buffs - do it, but in the
early morning, in stout "footgear" and good company.
ARCHAEOLOGY
AND LANGUAGE: the puzzle of Indo-European origins.
Colin Renfrew Jonathan
Cape 1987 Jean Snelling
Our Newsletter 201 invited comments on this
important new book and we were fortunate to have Peter Pickering's article in
February 1988. There cannot be many HADAS members able to bring a philologist's
judgement and to do it so promptly. To a non-philologist bed-time reader this
is a difficult book because Professor Renfrew (also non-philologist) studies
the significance to an archaeologist of the philological and archaeological
evidence bearing on his great question. He asks, who were these Indo-Europeans
to whom are attributed the roots of most European and Indo-Iranian languages?
When were they and where, and how did their influence spread? Philologists
appear to have trusted archaeologists for evidence that Indo-Europeans appeared
from somewhere, invasively, possibly in or before the early Bronze Age and
spread westwards; and so far the archaeologists have found no such evidence.
I think it appropriate to stress the force of
Renfrew's hypotheses - even if we find eventually that he is replacing one myth
(the Indo- Europeans) by another persuasive myth - the pioneering neolithic
peasants of Eastern Anatolia in 7,000 BC.
From these first farmers (barring any Chinese)
Renfrew sees farming spreading mainly of its own accord, year by year and
kilometre by kilometre - a wave of advance - west and northwards through Greece
to the Atlantic and the Baltic, and southeast to Iran and by some route to
Pakistan and India. With farming, he proposes, goes the farmers' original
language, modifying as it extends over great stretches of time and space and as
varying local conditions and perhaps old pre-neolithic languages are
encountered. By 3,000 BC or earlier farming has reached Scandinavia, Ireland
and the Orkneys, and the Celtic, Germanic and Italic languages are emerging
from their ancient roots (which we have still to call Indo-European even if we
refer to Eastern Anatolian neolithic).
The theory of the wave of advance owes much to Cavalli-Sforza's
and Ammerman's studies of farming developments in new territories. Farmers have
larger families than hunter-gatherers and they also exhaust land, so they
constantly require more space. It is postulated that an average farming
population in new lands doubles its numbers every 18 years, and will take in 18
fresh kilometres in random directions every 25 years. This would be the driving
force for the advance of peasant farming; there would also be small invasions
and migrations, some of them known to archaeology. The large modern invasions
of farming in North and South America, Australia etc. have become possible
through technological advances, especially in traction, which were not
available in prehistoric times. (Horses were used for traction from about 2600
BC or earlier but were not ridden until well after 2,000 BC, while the
controlling stirrup comes in the Dark Ages.)
Renfrew points to the need for more archaeology to
clarify the neolithic advance to Pakistan and India. Possibly it occurred early
via Assyria, Kurdistan and Iran. But possibly it was delayed until 4,000-3,000
BC and went south-eastwards through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The delay would
have involved a route through the Balkans to the steppes of the Ukraine, where
nomadic pastoral ism developed in land where cereals would not grow, and then
the movement southeast. Renfrew states the secondary nature of pastoralism,
which requires a basic supply of agricultural products (i.e. bread).
Returning to language: if we ask what speech or
dialects came with the early farmers to Britain from 4,500 BC, it has to be a
form of Celtic coming directly from France or the Low Countries, as our share
of the Indo- European heritage. It is now believed that later Celtic influences
(Hallstatt or Belgic) did not involve much movement of people.
Readers will realise how much I have simplified, indeed
over-simplified Renfrew's complex work; and how unlikely we are to have heard
the last of his propositions. If he is right over, among other things, the
great antiquity of the British and Celtic languages, he will have given many of
us a great personal boost as well as en intellectual stimulus.
ARCHAEOLOGY
AND THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON Audree Price-Davies
Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary for Sunday September
2nd, 1666:
"Lords Day. Some of our maids sitting up late
last night to get things ready against our feast today, Jane called us up about
3 in the morning to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City. So I rose and
slipped on my nightgown and went to her window and thought it to be on the back
side of Mark Lane at the farthest but being unused to such fires as followed I
thought it far enough off and so went to bed and to sleep."
Mr. Gustav Milne in his dramatic and fascinating
account of the Great Fire and the recent archaeological discoveries associated
with it, showed us why Mr. Pepys might be excused for not recognising the
magnitude of the fire. From his house near the Tower, Mr. Pepys was used to
seeing fires in the City of London. Timber-framed buildings with jetted upper
stories which allowed fires to pass easily across the road were often on fire,
and warehouses fronting the Thames and filled with combustible materials, such
as timber, oil and pitch added to the hazard. Firefighting equipment was
rudimentary - buckets of water were used, and John Keeling’s fire engine which
needed four people to pump the water from the water drum up to the hose - these
were not very effective ways of controlling a fire. Destroying houses in the
path of the fire to make a fire-break demanded the permission of the owners of
the property and was not readily given. It was little wonder that the fire
destroyed 13,200 houses, St. Paul's Cathedral, 87 parish churches, the
Guildhall, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, Sessions House, 52 Company
Halls, Blackwell Hall, Bridewell, Newgate Gaol, 3 City gates, 4 stone bridges,
£2,000 worth of books, £1,500,000 worth of wine, tobacco, sugar and plums, and
caused a total loss amounting to £10,000,000 when London's annual income was
£12,000.
The fire started when Thomas Faryner, a baker of Pudding
Lane, omitted to ensure that the embers of his fire were sufficiently raked. It
took hold during the night, an east wind fanned the blaze and the disaster
could not be contained. All who could hired carts or boats and removed
themselves and their possessions to the country. Rumours of a Dutch and French
plot in starting the fire (the English were at war with Holland and France at
the time) added to the panic. Eight fire-fighting posts were set up at which
the constables of the respective parishes were ordered to attend with 100 men, and
at every post there were to be 30 foot soldiers. The Court became seriously
alarmed when the fire reached Temple Church, fearing that it would spread from
there to Whitehall. Charles II and the Duke of York went to Moorfields, and
helped by throwing buckets of water on the fire. The militia from Kent,
Middlesex, and Hertfordshire were called out - but to maintain order, not to
fight the fire, as Charles IT did not wish his precarious hold on the throne to
be threatened by a riot.
In all, 436 acres were totally devastated, but the
rebuilding was rapid, imaginative and pragmatic. Timber buildings would be
banned in favour of brick, old streets and lanes would be paved and widened and
obstructions such as market buildings and conduits would be moved out of the
roadways. Buildings on by-streets would be 2-storied. On lanes of note and
overlooking the Thames, they were to be 3-storied, while merchants' mansion
houses were to be no more than 4 stories. Thirty of the churches designed by
Wren survive in some form. Other buildings include the Apothecaries' Hall,
Tallow Chandlers Hall, St. Paul's Deanery and Chapter House, 1-3 Amen Court,
20-22 College Hill, Dr. Johnson's house in Gough Square and 3-5 Raquel Court.
The population of London rose to a million inhabitants after the Fire, and
within 10 years, modern London was born.
Archaeological evidence has revealed that St. Mary
at Hill church has pre-Fire masonry standing to its full height. Wren's
circular brick window had been inserted into a larger blocked-up stone window.
Wren's churches like so much of the post-Fire City had all the outward
appearance of late seventeenth century design but retained the mediaeval plan.
Work on the waterfront has revealed building debris
derived from the clearance of fire-damaged structures and at Blackfriars
Underground Station excavation revealed a massive mediaeval river-wall in fine
condition. In Pudding Lane on a site close to the bakehouse, excavations have
exposed a cellar in which barrels of pitch were being stored. Compacted
carbonised material revealed the remains of some 20 barrels which had been
stored on five racks. This turned a minor into a major catastrophe. Associated
finds included a worn sixpence of Elizabeth I (1558- 1603), clay tobacco pipes
and local monochrome tiles.
This recent archaeological evidence provides a
physical reality for the accounts of the Great Fire and adds a dramatic
dimension to our understanding of the Fire. We are grateful to Mr. Milne for
revealing this new dimension.
FIVE
HUNDRED NOT OUT Brigid
Grafton Green
We don't often have a chance to offer
congratulations on half- millennium: but that opportunity comes this year. The
Finchley Charities are celebrating their 500th birthday. It was in 1488 that
Robert Waren contributed his first "Gift;" following it up the next
year with a second piece of land, the two to be administered by nine feoffees
(we'd call them trustees today) for the needy poor of Finchley.
Waren's first gift was three fields lying on the
west side of Nether Street; later they became part of the Brent Lodge estate,
and HADAS members of long standing will recall that one of our early digs was
in the garden of Brent Lodge after that house had been demolished - we were in
fact digging on the "Home Field" which Waren had bequeathed to
Finchley in 1488.
The Charities can make a proud boast for a
quincentenarian: since that first "Gift," they have never looked
ba.ck. That is clear from an excellent history - The Finchley Charities,
1488-1988 - which has been written to mark the occasion by Fred Davies, one of
the Trustees.
In addition to administering various bequests and
donations (which Mr. Davis describes in detail), the Charities have, since
Elizabethan times, been responsible for Finchley almshouses. The first four
small houses were "erected and built for the habitation of poor
folks" in the early years of the 17c. In 1739 these first almshouses were
pulled down and six new houses were built, "fronting on Finchley
Common".
In 1895 new almshouses were again erected "on
the footpath from Long Lane to Oak Lane" (the site was not called Wilmot
Close until many years later), and the 18c almshouses were demolished. A HADAS
member of the 1960s, Jennifer Digby, spent much time and research trying
unsuccessfully to pinpoint the likely site of those earlier buildings and their
Tudor forerunners.
The 1895 buildings were added to and modernised in
the 1930s and '40s. In 1940 there was accommodation for 12 couples, the oldest
of whom was 81, the youngest 69. A booklet of the time says that "no person
is eligible for election who is less than 60 years of age and has resided in
the Borough for less than 5 years. The allowances to the inmates vary from 5s
(25p) a week upwards, according to whether the inmate is or is not in receipt
of an old age pension. In addition the Trustees provide electric light and
coal."
Fred Davis tells us that four additional apartments
went up in 1958; in 1966 a further block was added, and it was then that the
name Wilmot Close came into use. Today the Charities provide 100 modern flats
at three addresses: Wilmot and Thackrah Closes and Homesfield, East Finchley.
Mr. Davis's account contains much interesting
material from the early documents of the Charities. These throw a social spotlight
on beliefs, attitudes - and unexpected facts - of everyday living. Who, for
instance, would expect three elderly widows in the year 1817 to be (or indeed,
to have the means to be) "constantly drunk, noisy and abusive," so
that the Trustees resolved that the Warden "do turn them out of possession,
and let in proper objects" (that word "objects" rather gets me,
too!)
If you would like to delve further into Fred Davis's
research, you can get a copy of his book, price £5, from Church End Library,
Finchley.
FORTHCOMING EXCAVATIONS AND OTHER PROJECTS
There's work ahead for HADAS diggers and would-be
diggers! We have our eyes on three sites where the society hopes to be active
during the summer months.
The first and potentially the most important is in
the heart of Hendon in the grounds of St. Joseph's Convent. The grounds of the
Convent are to be sold off for redevelopment for a new housing estate and HADAS
wants to investigate this potentially interesting area. We want to begin,
however, in the grounds of the Convent itself where there is a mysterious
man-made mound. It was described in HADAS Newsletter 08 of June 1978 where the
conclusion was reached that it was probably an ice-house. Sylvia Beamon, who is
our leading authority on ice-houses and whose work was described recently in
Current Archaeology 105 will be coming to talk to us on ice-houses at the AGM
on 10th May, and it would be nice if we could open the mound and find the
entrance for her ready to inspect before that date. We hope to have permission
for access at the May Bank Holiday weekend so that we can start investigations
for the following weekend (Saturday 7-8th May) Brian Wrigley would like to hear
from you, so get out your picks and shovels and give him a ring on 01-959 5982
if you can give him a hand.
The other two sites are both up in Barnet where
Jenny Cobban is very active. One is not an excavation at all but above ground
archaeology. This is Barnet parish Church. The main Parish Church is Victorian
but the north aisle is the original medieval church. Recently the plaster has been
stripped off the wall and it is very important that we draw the stones that are
now visible. Robert Michel is very interested in this as he studied archaeology
at Southampton University where he helped in studying churches by drawing their
walls, stone by stone. He can be contacted in the evenings on 205 1455.
The other site is at Mays Lane in Barnet known as
The Cottons. Excavations were carried out here in the 1950s by Derek Renn, and
reported by him in the transactions of the East Herts Archs Soc 1955-57. (Derek
is one of our leading amateur archaeologists - by profession he is a high-
powered actuary and he had recently been elected the new president of LAMAS).
It now appears to be that houses are to be built in the area, so there may be
some medieval material awaiting discovery. Information on both these sites can
be obtained from Jenny Cobban, on 440 3254. We do have permission to
investigate this last site this coming summer.
NEWS
ABOUT MEMBERS
Frank and Craigie Meyer are moving away to the North
this month. They have both been very regular and outing attenders though their
activities were curtailed a few years ago when Mr. Meyer was knocked down by a
car. It was nice to see them back again at the April lecture and we wish them
well. Craigie Meyer may be better known to us as Craigie Beswick as she was
when she first joined, until she married Mr. Meyer, who has been a member since
1965.
Eric Ward. We reported some months back that HADAS
one time photographer had been struck down with a crippling illness and was
undergoing investigation. Following further study in America, four new
investigative techniques have been devised, and Mr. Ward is bravely acting as
"guinea pig" for the Hammersmith Hospital in this country. He is
quite a VIP and they send a taxi for him when they are ready for the next
session. He is at present waiting for the result of the last one. We all
remember him with affection and hope that sometime soon his co-operation with
the researchers will bring relief to himself and to others.
Vincent Foster. We reported last year that Vincent,
a one-time committee member, digger, and participator in our period banquets
had settled and married in America. We now have pleasure in reporting the birth
of a daughter, Ida Marie, on the 2nd January this year.
Mrs. Banham. She is a founder member, and many of us
know her as the provider of that large tin of sweeties that circulated the
coach on nearly all our outings. She phoned me this week and I am pleased to
report she is bright and perky as ever, but so regrets that her back problem
prevents her travelling on outings and walking to lectures. She only lives in
Station Road, Hendon, and would often come to lectures and some outings if she
could get a lift. She did manage the Christmas Party at the Barbican and
thoroughly enjoyed it. So if anyone could offer a lift occasionally I am sure
she would be delighted.
Brigid Grafton Green. For the benefit of new members, Brigid was our
Secretary and Newsletter editor for many, many years. For old members no introduction
is needed and many, many of you enquire after her. She has had another session
in hospital since Christmas but is now doing fine. We all know what a
magnificent cook she is from her master-minding of all our banquet and party
catering, be it Roman, Medieval or Arabian. One of her biggest sadnesses is
that she can no longer make and enjoy all those exotic dishes as her diet is
now restricted. Nevertheless when I phoned her this morning Grafton said
"I'll call her, she's down the garden digging" - so that can't be bad
can it? We were all pleased to see her at the Chinese Warrior Exhibition and
look forward to seeing her again soon.
Nell Penny is one of our regular subscribers to the
Newsletter on her research into Hendon's history. CONGRATULATIONS An article
appears in the February edition of "The Local Historian" written by
our own Nell Penny. The article is on the three first censuses of 1801, 1811
and 1821. We are lucky to have these censuses in Hendon because in most areas
they have been destroyed. So Nell gave a whoop of delight when she found them.
Mrs. H.F. Faraday. We are sorry to report the death of Mrs.
Faraday in February. She joined membership with her daughter Janet who has been
a member for many years and who often brought her to lectures and outings.
Mrs. Ann Young. We have heard from Ann who moved to Rochester
before Christmas. She came regularly on our outings and has dug with our
president in Wales for many years now. She has joined the local Archaeological
Society and hopes to either see us down there when we are next in Kent, or to
join us on the occasional outing. The latest news we have of Ann is that she
fell and hurt herself. We wish her better.
OFFICERS'
MESS, HENDON AERODROME Bill
Firth
It was announced in April that the distinctive black
and white building latterly used as an officers' mess at Hendon Aerodrome has
been listed Grade 2.
This is the one historic building at Hendon which
was not listed early in 1987 mainly because at the time the main effort was to
save the Grahame-White hangar and no-one wanted to divert attention from it.
The officers' mess was originally built by Claude
Grahame-White as a hotel for the distinguished visitors to tendon and is dated
1917 on a stone above the main entrance.
There is still concern about the listed buildings at
Hendon, they are being shamefully neglected, evidently with the intention of
hastening their decay, in the hope that they will fall down and the Ministry of
Defence will thus gain their objective by default.
Apologies from Bill Firth for the clash of dates of
the Docklands visit and the visit to the former 11 (Fighter) Group Operations
Room, R.A.F. Uxbridge. The R.A.F.'s only available date Saturday July 16th.
SPOTLIGHT
ON CHIPPING BARNET John
Enderby
From the point of view of HADAS, Chipping Barnet has
become of prime concern in the last few months. Apart from the Stapylton Road
development, which is fully reported on elsewhere, potentially exciting things
have been happening all over the area. The origins of Barnet Parish Church are
at last being researched, wells are being discovered and, in most cases
unhappily, being destroyed by developers before they can be properly examined
and documented, old properties are being pulled down daily, and known
'"sensitive sites" put to the scourge of the Site Watchers' anathema,
the mechanical digger, before one can say "trial trench"!
Thus "The Salisbury Hotel", a popular
hostelry and meeting place seemingly in first rate condition, on the line of
the retreat of Lord Hastings' forces in the Battle of Barnet (1471), is being
pulled down to make way for a major development utilising the considerable
amount of land at the rear. The developer - South Molton Estates Ltd. - has
agreed to co-operate in the recovery of any artefacts of the Battle that may be
turned up by the mechanical diggers. Before the latter arrive to rape the
topsoil, we hope to run a metal detector over a site that could yield
multifarious metal objects. In reporting this, I am aware that I may induce
heart failure in those of you who deplore the use of such a diabolical
instrument. But with the archaeologist's trowel and spade becoming artefacts
themselves with the universal use of the mechanical digger, one is grateful for
any scientific aid. Indeed, sadly, as we found at Stapylton Road,
archaeological research today on an urban site can consist of little more than
a hasty examination of massive spoil heaps while the omnipresent bulldozer
adopts a threatening attitude at your side.
However, we do have some hope of planned research on
one large site in Barnet - Mays Lane, which we hope to establish not only as
the location of medieval Mayes Hall (mentioned in 1271) but to build on the
evidence housed in Barnet Museum of early settlement resulting from a limited
excavation carried out by David Renn some thirty years ago. LBB have kindly
granted HADAS a licence for four months from next May to investigate the site.
We have not so far been as fortunate with yet
another Barnet site. This is the access lane (paved with some of the few
seemingly original cobblestones left in this area), and a large area of land at
the rear of 62, High Street which is to be developed for office use. Last
Wednesday the previous owner contacted me to report that the Contractors would
be starting work the following Monday and did I know that there was a large
extremely deep well, an ancient granary, and a wonderful monkey puzzle tree, on
the site. For Jennie Cobban and I it was then all systems "go", with
a site visit and a myriad of calls to the LBB, the Local Greenpeace and Friends
of the Earth, the Contractor, the Museum of London, etc.! The well is, in fact,
some twenty feet deep with at least two feet of water in the bottom, straight
sided and seven feet wide with a heavy capping stone of considerable weight.
Remembering how before Christmas I was roped and lowered down another well
found at the Bow House, Wood Street, to commence a somewhat abortive excavation
which resulted in its total collapse (fortunately after Jenny had hauled me
out), I have so far tried nothing more adventurous than dropping a makeshift
plumb line down the well to ascertain its depth. If only the ultimate fate of
the well as a depositary for many tons of concrete can be delayed for a few
days - I am due to plead again with the Project Manager at a Site Meeting - who
knows ... I So watch this SPACE.
Amongst the outbuildings also being demolished on
this site is the old granary, the winding gear of which is remarkably still
intact. We are negotiating with the Contractor in an attempt to have at least
the wrought iron work preserved, perhaps for presentation to the Barnet Museum.
As regards the Monkey Puzzle tree on which there is
no T.P.O. but in which doves are nesting, it seems I can do little except pray
for Divine intervention. Why cannot man learn to live in harmony with the
environment of the Planet for which he is a trustee instead of forever
destroying it for short term gain - or greed? Photograph albums and folk
memories of what might have been still part of our heritage do nothing to
soften this shocking image.
MINI
MART OCTOBER 1988 - an EARLY REQUEST
We have a little more storage space, so if you are
turning out winter clothes (men's and women's), or bric-a-brac, linens etc.,
during spring cleaning, please ring Dorothy Newbury 203 0950 or Christine
Arnott 455 2751. We regret we cannot take big things, but we do get members
enquiring from time to time if items of furniture or household equipment have
been offered for sale. If you do have such things to dispose of, or need anything
in particular, ring Dorothy Newbury on 203 0950.
Remember this is our only fund-raising, event each
year - an event which helps to keep the society going.