NEWSLETTER 210:
September 1988 Edited by Jean Snelling
DIARY
Saturday September 10th
Afternoon tour of Charterhouse with Mary O'Connell.
Tuesday October 4th
Lecture. Recent excavations at Waltham Abbey by Peter Huggins
Saturday October 8th
Stepney Walk with Muriel Large. Details & application form enclosed.
Saturday October 15th
Minimart at St Mary's Church Hall, Greyhound Hill, Hendon NW4. Ring 205 0950 if
you have saleable items available now. Also old helpers and new volunteers
please ring in if you are available on that date. (See separate leaflet and
Sales & Wants list of larger items.)
Tuesday November 1st
Lecture. Excavations at the Mint, by Peter Mills.
Tuesday November 6th
(to be confirmed) Tentative date for Christmas Party at St George's Theatre,
N7, which is a reconstruction of an Elizabethan Playhouse.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
This is a gentle reminder - there are quite a lot of members
who have not paid their subscription as from April 1st 1988. Please let me have
your sub as soon as possible, and thank you.
The rates are as follows:
Full membership £5.00
Under 18 and over 60 £3.00
Additional members of the same family £1.00
Corporate members (Schools and Societies) £6.00
I await your remittance in due course.
Phyllis Fletcher, Membership Secretary 31 Addison Way,
London NW11 6AL.
DISCOVERING THE ICEHOUSE S.P.(Bill) Bailey
All would have been well if when joining HADAS I had
disconnected the phone. Or kept the phone and not joined, of course. As it was
I had put myself at the mercy of persuasive friends like Brian Wrigley and
Victor Jones and started therefore on my first archaeological dig, looking for
an icehouse under the mound in the grounds of St Joseph's Convent School in
Hendon. An icehouse is a brick-lined hole in the ground used for storing ice,
of unknown size, at unknown depth, but probably (the experts say) under some
sort of mound. Well, there was a mound, certainly. Was there an icehouse under
it? There were three ways to find out. First way: take up your resistivity
equipment and in intermittent rain traipse backwards and forwards across the
site, tangling up the lines and noting the resistance readings on damp
notepaper. This is a gentle sort of occupation but it didn't get us anywhere.
Second way: take one of the long metal rods with a point at
one end a handle at the other and shove it in the ground until it meets an
obstruction. When you do meet an obstruction, try shoving it in a few inches
away and see if the obstruction is still there. It is? Then try a third time.
Still there? So, stand around for a while wondering what it might perhaps be.
Then take spade, fork and trowel and with the utmost care dig down to the
obstruction. It will be a half brick, or possibly a broken roof tile.
Third way: gather in a group and argue cogently that there
has to be a reason for the mound in the first place, that in the event of there
actually being an icehouse the mound is there to cover the top of it sticking
up above ground level, and that the best way to find it might be to start
digging at the top of the mound and go down until either exhaustion or an
icehouse supervened. Taking spades, and metal rods for probing (just in case),
we dug a variety of small holes and trenches across the top of the mound,
uncovering a considerable quantity of excellent clay, either glacial or not
glacial according to Victor, lots of pebbles, more half bricks and bits of roof
tile, several interesting pieces of old tree roots, and soil. At irregular
intervals Victor, or Brian, or one of the others, seized a metal rod and
prodded away to discover further half bricks or broken roof tiles. This kept up
everyone's spirits.
The third way proved in the end to be the one which worked.
A small area of curving brickwork, properly set in mortar, was at last
uncovered and a small trench a few feet away produced more of it, plus a
junction with the top of what looked like the beginning of a tunnel leading off
to the north. There was an icehouse and there was an entrance to it on the
north side, as predicted by the experts. All that remained was to dig out the
entrance, get in, and see what it looked like. The entrance was dug out to the
point where we could see the roof of the tunnel and wriggle in on stomachs with
a torch held out in front. The thing was full, more or less to the domed roof,
with rubbish, decayed wheel-barrows, lengths of rusty chain-linked fencing, and
so forth.' Assuming, as we did, that the floor was roughly level with the floor
of the entrance tunnel it would be a messy job but not too difficult. The floor
of the tunnel when we finally reached it was admittedly lower than expected,
but it still looked relatively straightforward.
Many, many week-ends later and with the spoil heap looming
impressively high, we were able to work out more accurately what we were doing.
The tunnel entrance came in at the top, just under the domed roof, of an
egg-shaped cavity about eleven feet in diameter and about fifteen feet from top
to bottom. And it was packed pretty well to the brim with consolidated garden
rubbish and builders' remnants of thirty years or so. This spread of time could
be guessed from the recollection of an ex-school girl that in the early
‘thirties she could remember the tunnel leading on to a more or less flat
floor, and also from discovering in the top layers a scrap of newspaper with
the words "From our Special Correspondent Robert Boothby". He was
given a knighthood in 1953, so that went in some time before 1953.
We did not dig it all out. What we did was to dig out the
tunnel to the point where we could go in with a mild crouch, and get
wheel-barrows out the same way, and then excavate to the point where we were about
a foot below the level of the entrance we were using. On the far side, opposite
to the entrance, we marked out a small area in order to dig down and find the
floor. This, we discovered, was somewhat futile? because there was no floor.
The walls simply curved gently inwards to meet at the bottom and complete the
egg shape. By then the small area was a larger area marked out by pieces of
timber and shuttering, round a shaft seven or eight feet deep and entered by a
short ladder which got in the way once you were down. We did at last reach the
point where a probe showed the bottom to be about a further six inches down,
but actually reaching it meant moving the shuttering back to enlarge the hole,
and somehow our hearts weren't in it. To get that far we had dug through about
twelve feet of the equivalent of an old municipal rubbish tip. We were inclined
to feel that we did not want to face one more barrow load of broken glass, roof
tiles, very old Bovril bottles, lumps of plaster, half bricks, tree roots,
pieces of corrugated iron sheet, consolidated ashes, or even plain soil.
We had, after all, found the icehouse under the mound in the
grounds of St Joseph's Convent School, and that was surely enough for one
summer.
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
EXTRA MURAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY - EMAS
This new society's membership is open to all current and
past students and lecturers of the Extra Mural Diplomas in Archaeology and
Field Archaeology and the Certificate in Field Archaeology. Associate
membership is for 'such other persons connected with Archaeology as the
Committee shall approve and admit annually .... subject to payment of the
normal annual membership fee’. The fee is £7, from October 1 to 30 September.
Lectures, seminars, meetings, field trips, visits to
archaeological and historic sites, opportunities for excavation, conservation,
field walking and surveys and a regular bulletin appear on the agenda. And a
Christmas Party. A particular concern is the fostering of knowledge and
interest in archaeology among members and the development of the Extension
Diplomas and Certificate cited above.
Most old students and lecturers will have received
information directly but anyone who wishes should contact the Membership
Secretary of EMAS, c/o Birkbeck College Centre for Extra Mural Studies,
University of London, 26 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ«
NEWS FROM THE BOROUGH
ARCHIVES AND LOCAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT
LISTS: We have recently
been able to fill in the previous gaps in our file of lists of documents in The
Greater London Record Office relating to this borough. Further lists will be
sent to us as they occur. We have just finished indexing the lists, at least
summarily, for local people and places, and filing the cards has shown how far
these references complement and extend our knowledge. Many of the sources are
fairly well known and have been used, for instance, in writing the local
chapters of the Victoria County History, but others may have been overlooked.
Accession 351, for example, contains Allen and Cooper family papers relating to
the manors of Finchley-Bibbesworth and Old Fold. Unexpectedly, these include a
complete Finchley Poor Rate List of 1614, which is particularly valuable
because of the destruction of most of the early Finchley vestry records. They
also include a grant of 1553 of property in Barnet including four named inns in
Chipping Barnet: The Lyon, George, Peahen and Antelope. The same accession also
contains a large number of deeds relating to Hendon, particularly the western
side and including Lower Hale, Bunns and Goldbeaters Farms.
MAPS: The 1890s
25" OS Totteridge, and Barnet and Hadley streets in the Alan Godfrey
edition are now available.
FORTHCOMING
EXHIBITION: PLEA FOR HELP: In co-operation with Church Farm and the
Education Department we are planning an exhibition on "The Growth of the
Suburbs 1860-1940',1 relating primarily to this borough. It will open on 14th
October 1989 and run for about three months. It has a dual purpose, being
designed both for the general public and for GCSE students as part of their
examination project work. We therefore need to ensure that it is comprehensive
and accurate and would very much welcome offers of loans of material or
possibly personal reminiscences. If anyone has any items such as period
artefacts or photographs they would consider lending for the exhibition would
they please contact Gerrard Roots (Museum Curator) on. 01 203 0130.
OXFORD RADIOCARBON
ACCELERATOR UNIT
Ann Kahn draws attention to the SERC Bulletin vol 3 no 11,
Summer 1988, containing an article by Dr R.E.M. Hedges, Director of the Oxford
Unit, which is largely funded on research grants from the SERC (Science and
Engineering Research Council). No doubt we all think immediately of the
investigations of the Turin Shroud, whose results are due this month.
The Unit was set up in 1979 by the Research Laboratory for
Archaeology in order to develop accelerator- mass spectrometry (AMS) and to
apply it to radiocarbon dating, and is one of 20-30 accelerator laboratories
worldwide. There has been considerable publicity for the capacity of AMS to act
on smaller samples and therefore a much better choice of materials for dating.
The technique of AMS is explained in some detail in this article.
The aims of the Unit and some results will be of interest to
HADAS members. More than 1200 radiocarbon dates have been produced in the last
3-4 years, 90% of them for archaeological research. They include samples from
57 different countries, 20 different types of materials, and. all
archaeological periods over the last 45,000 years.
Priority is given to certain themes including:-
Studies of contextual and stratigraphic problems
Upper Paleolithic cave sequences
Late Paleolithic open sites
Development of agriculture and domestication
Early Man in the Americas
Mesolithic and Neolithic skeletal remains (especially in
Britain)
Examples of objects dated include a parchment Mappa Mundi
found binding an Elizabethan manuscript and dated to 1020-1270 AD; hairs from
the moustache and undigested remains of Lindow Man's last meal; string from the
Guitarrero Cave in Peru, 10,000 years old; a Mesolithic drinking cup from
Germany, made from birch bark and 9,000 years old; and a remnant of resin used
to glue a flint arrowhead to its shaft, from Belgium - Upper Paleolithic.
Much work is undertaken along with other archaeological
studies and methods. For instance dating wild and domesticated forms of grain
and bones of gazelle and sheep from several Neolithic sites, especially Abu
Hureyra*in Syria, so contributing to the emerging and clearer pictures of the
start of the 'Neolithic Revolution'. A start has been made on fresh dating of
Paleolithic levels in 'classic' French cave sites, going back more than 40,000
years; previous radiocarbon dating having suffered from contaminated material.
There is hope that eventually this work may lead to dating the transition from
Neanderthal to Modern Man.
*(Some
HADAS members are studying human bones from Abu Hureyra in Extra Mural
classes.)
TED SAMMES'
MISCELLANY
Cathedrals: who
makes decisions on alterations, repairs and restorations in our great
cathedrals? Deans and Provosts and their Capitular Bodies alone, it seems. Anxiety was expressed at the AGM of the
Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings on June 28th.
Churches in use including cathedrals are now exempt from
Scheduling as Ancient Monuments and the normal Building Control system. In 1977
government grants to churches in use were introduced on condition that the
Church of England reviewed and reformed its own control system.
In 1984 the Faculty Jurisdiction Commission set up by the
Church and chaired by the Bishop of Chichester recommended that a national
body, which was to become known as the Cathedrals Advisory Commission, should
be established with mandatory powers to approve or reject proposals for
significant work to cathedrals. These recommendations were accepted by the
General Synod.
Detailed proposals to this effect were put to the General
Synod this spring, met with opposition by Deans and Provosts, and were referred
back, the scheme appearing to be lost.
At the SPAB meeting in June the Vice-Chairman Mr Jeremy
Benson said, "The SPAB pledges itself to the securing of a proper and reasonable
system of control over cathedrals, in the national interest. We have an
over-riding duty to protect these buildings, for ourselves and our successors,
and we urge…….nay challenge the General Synod of the Church of England to abide
by its endorsement of the Chichester Report, and to introduce mandatory control
over all significant repairs and alterations to our cathedrals".
For further information contact Philip Venn, SPAB Secretary
on 01 377 1644 (on HADAS list too).
Ancient Monuments
Laboratory, English Heritage, London. Ted visited the Laboratory by ticket
during its two Open Days in April and advises us to watch for the next
opportunity. He enjoyed particularly the sections in geophysical prospecting
and on dating and the conservation lab. There is a brief article on the Open
Days in the English Heritage Magazine No2, July 1988, which indicates that they
were thought to have been very successful, but as yet there is no sign of more
invitations.
Reading Museum
The new Curator is John Rhodes, previously Keeper of Art of Oxford County
Museum Services, Woodchester. In an exhibition, People and Places, finishing on
September 3rd, the Museum is showing pictures and paintings from its large
reserve collection. Mon-Fri 10.00-5.30, Sat 10.00-5.00.
Pevsner Memorial
Appeal. In celebration of Pevsner's work, especially his Buildings of
England, a trust has been launched with a target of £100,000, to restore
paintings in St Michael's Church, Garton-on-the Wolds, North Humberside.
Donations should be sent to: The Pevsner Memorial Trust, c/o the Courtauld
Institute of Art, 20 Portman Square, London W1H OBE.
Roman Baptismal Tank.
The Daily Telegraph reported on June 15th the finding of a portion of a lead
baptismal tank, found in a Roman wall at Caversham during gravel pit workings.
On cleaning, a pattern of diamond shapes was revealed together with a CHI-RHO
cross symbol. The piece was badly crushed, and is believed to date from C4 AD.
Some accompanying timbers have been sent for conservation. Later it is hoped to
display the finds in Reading Museum's new Roman Gallery. Finds of tanks of this
nature are extremely rare.
MEMBERS' NEWS Dorothy Newbury
Alan Hill has been appointed to the newly established
position of Honorary Public Relations Officer to the Prehistoric Society.
Alan's job will be to coordinate the Society's links with the press in order to
make the Society's views known, and to see that the voice of the Society is
heard effectively where prehistoric sites or monuments are threatened. We have
noticed the difference already judging by the amount of material about the
Prehistoric Society in the Times recently. Good
work, Alan.
Erina Crossley Though Mrs Crossley resigned from the Society
a year or two ago I am sure our members will be delighted to hear she has
reached the great age of 103. She still lives at home, with a little help; and
until a few years ago she regularly attended our lectures with Lucille
Armstrong (now deceased) and enjoyed our meetings and minimarts.
Derek Batten FRICS Derek only joined the Society in 1986 but
was immediately thrown in at the deep end , to give a talk at our AGM that year
on his excavations in America researching Custer's battlefields. Now, after 40
years with Simmonds & Partners, Hendon he is going a step further, to Manchester
University to read for an honours degree in American History and Society. Good
luck, Derek.
Christine Arnott - from the Channel to China by train.
Christine was touching wood when she told me about the trip she will start on
September 4th. "I'm superstitious so could you say 'hoping to start' please
just in case anything goes wrong at the last minute.
I think I'd feel like touching wood too - because it's the
trip-of a lifetime. How would you like to travel, taking just over 6 weeks
about it, from the Channel to China by train? Only two short stages will be by
boat; one a quick nip across the Black Sea to Istamboul, the other 10 hours on
the Caspian. Apart from that it's trains all the way, including Paris to Vienna
by - shades of Agatha Christie and Poirot - the old Orient Express; and then in
China by steam train.
Though it's not an archaeological trip, Christine knows she
will see the Great Wall and - of course - the Warriors; she also hopes to see
at least one prehistoric site, perhaps more. "I'm taking an enormous
gamble" she says. "I daren't think of all the things that could go
wrong - either on the trip itself or at home while I'm away. But I've always
wanted to do something adventurous once in my life - and this is it."