NEWSLETTER 211 :
October, 1988 Edited by
Anne Lawson
DIARY
PROGRAMME NEWS
OUR LECTURE SEASON
STARTS ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4th.
We meet at Hendon Library, The Burroughs, at 8.00 p.m.
Coffee and biscuits are available before the lecture, which starts at 8.20 -
8.30 p.m. We appeal to members with cars to offer lifts to non-car members in
their area, if only for the return journey. The hazards of our streets and
public transport at night preclude many of our members attending these days.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 4th
Lecture and slides on recent excavations at Waltham Abbey by Peter Huggins.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 8th Stepney Walk with Muriel Large. Due to post
disruption, applications have been late in arriving. If you would like to join
the walk, please ring Dorothy Newbury on 203 - 0950. Numbers are limited.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15th
FUND -RAISING MINIMART AND LUNCH 11.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. at St Mary's Church
House, top of Greyhound Hill, Hendon, N.W.4. Please see the enclosed leaflet,
giving details of goods required and help needed, and names of stallholders.
This is our one fund-raising event of the year which is open to the public, and
which over the years has become a social event as well. TO ALL MEMBERS - please
help in some way.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 6th
Didn't anybody spot our "deliberate" mistake in the September
Newsletter? November 6th isn't a Tuesday !!! Our Christmas trip to St George's
Theatre, N.7, is definitely on, and the date is TUESDAY DECEMBER 6th. Details
and application form enclosed. If you would like to join our Christmas Party,
please complete the enclosed form and return it with your cheque as soon as
possible.
MEMBERS NEWS
Mrs Elizabeth Barrie We sadly report the death of Mrs Barrie
on September 7th. This lively little lady with her broad Scots accent had been
a member for several years and was with us as recently as July on our trip to
Docklands. She was always accompanied by her daughter, Deirdre, who has also
been a member for many years. Deirdre is one of our Newsletter Editors. We
share her sorrow with her.
Mary McGhee has
retired and gone to live in Taunton. Mary is the member who makes those
gorgeous crackers for our Christmas Party raffle every year.
Bryan Hackett,
who joined HADAS at 13 and led our Junior Group for several years until he went
up to Oxford to read history, tells us he has now got his degree. At the moment
he's marking time earning a bit in a solicitor's office - but soon hopes he'll
be off to do a year's VSO work abroad. After that he hopes to go into the
Church, doing his theological training first in Cambridge.
OUTING TO BUCKINGHAM Micky O'Flynn
The last long HADAS outing of this season proved to be very
popular, as a full coach set off for an action-packed day.
THORNBOROUGH
After morning coffee at The Two Brewers in the village of
Thornborough, we met our guide, Sheila Lewis, at the nearby Thornborough
Barrows. These are two large circular Roman burial mounds, 21/2 miles east of
Buckingham.
The earliest settlements known in the area are Iron Age, and
these are a large hill fort, Norbury Camp, covering 12-13 acres and a small
fortified farmstead of 2-3 acres. The discovery of a socketed Iron Age axe
dated as 50 B.C. defined the settlement as 1st Century B.C. There are only 21
of these axes known in Europe, 11 in Britain, and this is the largest and
finest example. We had the great privilege of actually being able to handle the
axe, as Mrs Lewis is the custodian until it becomes one of the exhibits in the
new museum soon to open in Buckingham.
The settlement continued in use through the Roman period and
it is now known to be a large Roman complex at the junction of a dozen major
roads to Roman towns and villages.
The best extant group of Roman burial mounds in the country
are the Bartlow Hills in Essex, originally 9, but only the 4 largest remain.
The Thornborough Barrows are said to be the second best with the suggestion of
a third Burial mound close by, and as rich in grave-goods as the Bartlow Hills.
The Thornborough Barrows were first excavated in 1839, by the Duke of
Buckingham who sank shafts down the centres. He found that one had already been
robbed, so back-filled it, but the other burial was largely intact. He
discovered an adult male inhumation, said to be lying on a timber couch and
accompanied by rich grave-goods of imported Samian ware, amphorae, bronze ware,
flagons, glassware and gold-leaf decorated weapons. It has been suggested that
this could be the burial of a local Iron Age Romanized chieftain, who could
have lived at the farmstead. From 1960 onwards, more finds of coins, pottery
and brooches over a wide area showed this to be a major Roman settlement, and
that the burial mounds were a focal point of a large Romano-British flat grave
cemetery dating back to late 1st and 2nd Century A.D. A statuette of Isis found
locally emphasizes the religious importance of the site, as do the remains of a
small temple(dating back to late 3rd or 4th Century A.D.) nearby, with a
horse's head burial outside.
It interesting to note the shift in the village site in
Saxon and Medieval times and again the shift to its modern position.
BUCKINGHAM
Mrs Lewis continued on with us to Buckingham and gave us a
guided tour of this ancient market town.
The town was originally built in a narrow loop of the River
Ouse, and the parish church of St. Peter and Paul now stands on Castle Hill,
the position of the oldest recorded settlement.
Edmund the Elder, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, mentions in
915 the boroughs on either side of the river, so the church site must be one of
these Anglo- Saxon fortifications, although no remains have been found. It was
then the site of a Norman motte and bailey castle, built at the end of the 11th
Century, but flattened when derelict by the Tudors, who used it as a bowling
green I When the spire of the original late Saxon church collapsed in 1776 it
was not rebuilt in the churchyard position, but on the hill site, by Sir
Gilbert Scott.
Twenty years ago many of the historic town buildings were in
a very poor condition, but the coming of the University of Buckingham has had
an influence on the regeneration of the town. This is the only private
university in the country, and much money has been invested by the university
to rescue and renovate some of these buildings for academic use. Even with the
presence of the university, Buckingham is a peaceful town, with many
interesting features to visit, and the Buckingham Heritage Trust hopes to open
a new museum soon, housed partly in the original building of the St. John's
Royal Latin School and partly in the Old Gaol.
HILLESDEN CHURCH
About three miles south of Buckingham, we visited the lovely
church of All Saints. It is mainly l4th Century, though the west tower was
built somewhat earlier than the rest, and it was thoroughly restored in the
19th Century by Sir Gilbert Scott. The walls are impressively battlemented and
the l6th Century stained glass panels show stories from the Miracles of St.
Nicholas.
WINSLOW HALL
Winslow Hall is not open to the public, so we were very
fortunate in being shown around the private home of Lord and Lady Tomkins. This
is an important house in that the plans and overseeing of the building are
attributed to Wren, and it survives as a domestic building outside of London,
largely without alteration. It was built in 1698, as a main house, with two
pavilions, one for the kitchens and the other for the brew-house and laundry.
Across the middle of the main house is the chimney wall
holding the 12 chimneys, and around the outside walls there are 72 windows.
There are no corridors in the house as the rooms are built around the central
chimney wall and open into each other at the ends.
William Lowndes, who had the house built, organised the
first centralisation of national accounts and budgets, so is said to be the
founder of the Civil Service, and his practical character is seen in the
restrained decoration, wood panelling, and plain ceilings. The exceptions to
this are the walls. painted by Daniel Marot in 1715 in the guest bedroom. These
are unique in England and in excellent condition and the gilding gives an
unusual "3-D" effect when lit. Since the house was not lived in for
much of its history it has undergone few alterations. It was requisitioned by
the R.A.F. during the war and although it received no significant damage was
due for demolition in 19^7- Thankfully the Wren Society obtained a preservation
order on the Hall to stop this, and in 1950 Edward Tomkins bought the house.
Very few changes have been made since, except to move the kitchens into the
main house and to convert the corner rooms into bathrooms. In connection with
the house one must also mention the fine collection of Chinese pieces
originally owned by Lady Tomkins' grandfather, not forgetting the delicious tea
arranged for us by Lady Tomkins.
ST MICHAEL'S STEWKLEY
Our last stop was at this impressive Norman church, which is
one of only three, out of the 6,000 or so built by the Normans, which have
survived without later additions to their original plan. St Michael's was built
in about 1150 A.D. with nave, central space with massive tower above, and chancel
but no aisles. There is much decorative carving of zigzags and dragons, and the
tub-shaped font is the Norman original.
Our thanks must go both to the knowledgeable guides and to
Dorothy Newbury, whose well-researched and organised planning yet again made
for an informative and enjoyable day.
SEVERAL OF OUR MEMBERS asked for references to the
excavations at Thornborough. Sheilagh Lewis writes suggesting the following:
1954 J. Liversedge
"The Thornborough Barrow" (Records of Bucks. 16, 29 - 32)
1965 C. Green "A
Romano-Celtic Temple at Bomton Grounds, Buckingham" (Records of Bucks. 17,
356 ff)
1975 A. Johnson "Excavations
at Bomton Grounds, Thornborough, 1972-3" (Records of Bucks. 20, 3 - 56)
1983 M. Green "Isis
at Thornborough" (Records of Bucks.
25, 139 - 141)
A CHARTERHOUSE WALK Stewart Wild
Charterhouse is a name that all of us are familiar with,
perhaps on account of the distinguished school, or possibly because of the
school's origins in London, in a former monastery hidden away behind
Charterhouse Square in Clerkenwell. But how did it start ? What is it now ?
Thanks to Mary O'Connell, another group of HADAS members recently had their
curiosity satisfied.
The Charterhouse is normally only open to visitors on
Wednesday afternoons between April and July. We were doubly fortunate: the
weather was perfect and we were shown round by the Master, Mr Eric Harrison, a
charming and thoroughly knowledgeable guide.
First we went for a short stroll near the Museum of London,
past the Roman Wall in Noble Street and the Lutheran church of St. Anne, and
returned to Charterhouse Square via Little Britain and the church of St
Bartholomew the Great, dating from 1123.
Charterhouse Square was a plague pit in 1350, part of a
parcel of land given to the city by one of Edward Ill's knights. In 1370 a
Carthusian monastery was founded on the site. In 1535 the monks refused to
recognise Henry VIII as head of the church and the community was dissolved.
What was left became a Tudor mansion and in 1611 was sold to Thomas Sutton who founded
a hospital/ school for 80 old men and 40 boys.
The school moved to Godalming in 1872 and the land it
occupied was sold to St. Bart's Medical School. The elderly gentlemen still
remain, nowadays no more than 30.
Our fascinating tour included two courtyards, the Great
Hall, the cloister, library chapel and tower. The buildings suffered severe
damage during the air raids in 19^1 but have been superbly restored.
Ironically, good came of this in that two important finds were made as a result
of the repairs: the unearthing in 1947 of the founder's grave (1372) and the
discovery in 1958 of the doorway to one of the original 24 monks' cells.
Thank you, Mary, for allowing us a glimpse of a little-known
part of London.
A COIN FROM BROCKLEY
HILL 1 Jenny Cobban
The potentially interesting find of a Celtic coin at
Brockley Hill (TQ 175939) was made by HADAS member Nick Cobban on 4th
September, while field walking with the aid of his metal detector.
The tiny bronze coin, which was lying on the freshly
ploughed field, is in good condition and bears the legend "CUNO" and
portrait on one side, and “TASCIO” and design on the other. (A type which seems
not to be listed in Seaby's "Coins of England".)
It would thus appear to date from the early years of the
reign of CUNOBELINUS (Shakespeare's "Cymbeline") son of TASCIOUVANUS.
CUNOBELINUS, King of the CATOVELLAUNI, reigned for over
forty years and is said to have been the greatest of the Belgic rulers. He died
in A.D. 43-41, just before the Roman invasion under Claudius in A.D. 43.
After verification, the coin will be recorded by HADAS and
the Museum of London.
THE OLD GRANARY AND
WELL (Rear of 62 High Street, Chipping Barnet) John Enderby
On behalf of HADAS, Jenny Cobban and I have interested
ourselves in the above, prior to the re-development of the site by the owners,
Oxford and Cambridge Estates, for office purposes. There were several
substantial nineteenth century buildings, used as small industrial workshops,
on the site, which is approached through a narrow lane from the High Street.
The lane is paved in part with cobble stones that are likely to be preserved as
it is to become a pedestrian access only, with a new road being constructed
from Moxon Street. One of the buildings in question had been a granary used in
conjunction with the ancient brewery for the inn now known as The Mitre. Apart
from evidence of a medieval building uncovered in 1936, which might have formed
part of the brewery, the only remains of the brewery that can now be seen is a
large bricked well, some seven feet across. The depth of the silt and deposit
at the bottom is of course not known; our plumb line showed 21ft and the water
level is still high. This no doubt supplied the large quantity of water
required in the brewing process. Unhappily, the well is now being filled with
rubble as a result of the site clearance and will disappear when the
foundations of the office block are laid.
Despite the granary not having been used since the turn of
the century, a strong and distinct smell of malt was evident when I visited it,
immediately prior to demolition. The grain was raised to the thick boarded
floor of the two storey building by means of a very substantial sack lift,
operated by massive metal winding gear, which is thought to have dated from circa
1840. Thanks to the willing co-operation of the developers and the interest of
the London Borough of Barnet Planning Department, the hoist and winding gear
were removed undamaged by the demolition contractors, only to suffer some
attention from vandals before it could be transported from the site to the LBB
Squires Lane Depot for storage until such time as it could be offered to a
suitable heritage museum. Fortunately, the three foot diameter winding wheel
was taken down at an earlier stage and now rests in perfect condition in the
garage of a Barnet HADAS member!
Everything recovered has been offered to the Department of
Working History of the Museum of London for display in the Docklands Museum
which is due to open in 1990. Strangely enough, the latter is also likely to
house an exhibit illustrating the activities of my own family, who were
pioneers of the British whaling industry and gave their name to Enderby Land in
the Antarctic Basin, as well as a town in Leicestershire and another in British
Columbia!
THE ICE-HOUSE SAGA
CONTINUES Brian Wrigley
Readers of the last Newsletter may have got the impression
from Bill Bailey's article that they had heard the last of the ice-house in St
Joseph's Convent grounds; but take heart ! It is not over yet ! Whilst the
bottom of this curious structure, like the end of a rainbow, still eludes us,
your stout-hearted Committee refuse to give up, and gritting their teeth,
actually voted to spend a small sum on proper shuttering to make our now rather
precipitous excavation secure. This will enable us, in a few weeks' time, we
hope, to offer an Open Day for interested members, and perhaps some invited
visitors, to inspect it and hear what information we can supply. By that time,
who knows, we may have actually got to the bottom of it, with the assistance of
the new shuttering giving a little more room to work in our deep dark hole!
COMMITTEE NEWS
The Committee met on 9th November after a two month summer
break, and so had a very full Agenda. Amongst the items discussed was a request
from Barnet Museum for HADAS to formulate a policy for the depositing of
archaeological finds and records from the Chipping Barnet area, and it was
agreed that Barnet Museum is the natural place for these, and that in the
future items from that area will be sent on loan to the Museum.
There was news of the Ice House dig and the Committee agreed
that £30 should be used for additional shuttering so that the work can be
safely continued to reach the bottom. This is potentially hazardous work as well
as being heavy and difficult to remove the fill that has accumulated over the
years. The Committee considered that some money should later be paid for help
with backfilling, to save our stalwart diggers from complete exhaustion.
Victor Jones has offered to put up an exhibition about the
Ice House at the LAMAS Local History Conference on 26th November, and Nell
Penny has agreed to summarise the results of her documentary investigations for
this exhibit.
Robert Michel submitted his proposed work programme at St
John the Baptist, High Barnet, where he hopes to identify and date the earliest
parts of the North Wall.
News from the Prehistoric Sub-Committee included yet another
promise that the West Heath report is to be published by LAMAS, and a
suggestion that if this does not happen soon BAR should be approached to
publish it. It was agreed to lend about two dozen worked flints from the West
Heath to the London Museum, to be hafted and used in their new Prehistoric
Gallery. In the quest for more flints, and thus more prehistoric sites, Myfanwy
Stewart was leading a field walk at Brockley Hill, near the site of last year's
Roman walking and digging.
CALLING VOLUNTEER
DIGGERS !
62 High Street, Chipping Barnet (see pages 5/6)
Following a month of abortive negotiations with the
developers of the above site, it now seems probable that a machine trench will
be opened for us to investigate for ONE WEEKEND ONLY I
No firm date has yet been given by Peter Dunbar acting for
the developers, Oxford and Cambridge Estates Ltd., but he considers it will be
within the next few weeks.
If you would like to offer assistance, further information
concerning timetable of excavations and site-watching and the site itself,
please contact Jenny Cobban on 440-3254.
AND CALLING ! Sons, daughters, grandchildren, even YOUNG
HUSBANDS...
and anyone with a strong right arm to help set up the MINI -
MART at 9 a.m. + and to help dismantle what is left at 2.30 p.m. +
REMEMBER! REMEMBER! REMEMBER!
15th OCTOBER MINI - MART MINI
- MART
HENDON AND DISTRICT
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
01-959-5982 21
Woodcroft Avenue, Mill Hill, NW7 2AH
1st October 1988
Dear Member,
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVER that there will be a Special General
Meeting of the Society on Tuesday, November 1st 1988, at 8.00 pm, at Hendon
Library, The Burroughs, NW4 before the advertised lecture on "Excavations
at the Mint".
The matters to be dealt with at the Meeting will be:
1. Amendment
of the Constitution and Rules of the Society pursuant to Rule 9
The proposal put forward and recommended by your Committee
is:
That in Rule ' (relating to the audit of accounts J for the
words "Member «f a recognised accountancy body" there be substituted
"suitably qualified person".
2. Annual
Accounts for 1987-88
To receive the audited accounts for the year 1987-88 in
accordance with the resolution passed at the Annual General Meeting on the 10th
May 1988.
3. Annual
Subscriptions for the year beginning 1st April 1989
To decide the amount of annual subscriptions for the year 1989-90 under Rule 4(a); the proposal put forward and
recommended by your Committee is:
That from the 1st April 1989» the Society's subscriptions
shall be:-
Members aged 18-60 years £6.00
per annum
Members aged under 18 years £4.00
" "
Members aged over 60 years £4.00
" "
Dependent relatives residing with a Member £2.00 " “
Corporate members £8.00
" "
NOTE: Your Committee consider themselves obliged to
recommend this increase in subscriptions, in the light of the annual accounts
as presented, which show that without the funds raised by the Minimart, the
Society's income from subscriptions and investment is not enough to cover the
ordinary expenses, particularly those of the monthly Newsletter, as
foreshadowed by the Hon Treasurer at the AGM.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Wrigley
Hon Secretary