The mansio, however, was still in use as the fort’s ditches stopped short of this structure, although around this time it was converted into a bath house. Late in the century the site was brought into the ‘Saxon Shore’ chain of forts, and the massive walls which today dominate the site were constructed. The remains of the Arch were finally demolished and the fort’s headquarters built on the foundations.  Its garrison was the Second Legion Augusta, having left their legionary base at Caerleon. In the post-Roman centuries, the fort became a Christianised site – a font has been found in one corner of the fort and a chapel dedicated to St Augustine was built near the ruins of the Arch, and was still in use up to the 17th century

Detail of the construction technique of the north wall showing the putlog holes, tile courses and overall chequerboard appearance

As part of Scottish Archaeology Month, Glasgow Archaeological Society organised tours of Govan Old Parish Church and Glasgow Cathedral on Saturday 22nd September 2001. It being more than 20 years since I had last visited the Cathedral, and never having been to the Govan Church, I decided to avail myself of this opportunity.

The tour of Glasgow Cathedral was led by Hugh McBrien, an archaeologist working for Glasgow City Council, and formerly of SUAT – the Scottish Urban Archaeology Trust. 

The emphasis of the tour was on looking at the existing building for clues about its history and development. By way of introduction, HMcB told us that Glasgow Cathedral is unusual in that it is substantially of one build, with little in the way of addition or alteration at later dates. However, that one build is not from the date of the original foundation. The first two constructions on the site seem to have burned down, and by 1200 the Cathedral was on to its third build. The present imposing edifice is the fourth construction on the site, but what remains is almost all from the thirteenth century. 

HMcB walked the small group around the outside of the Cathedral pointing out various details which proved in what order different parts of the building were completed. The windows in the choir, for example, when inspected from the south, are of a more simple and earlier style than those of the nave, whereas you might expect the part of the church that was exclusively for the use of the clergy to have the more elaborate decoration. But naturally the clergy’s part of the church would be finished first, so that worship could begin as soon as possible. The nave windows, when they were crafted later in the century (because of course no-one can build a Cathedral using Mediaeval technology in five minutes!), were completed in the latest style, since every Cathedral builder wanted to keep up with the latest trends. The nave itself, when viewed from the north, has an earlier style of window on the north wall than on the south. HMcB gave an eminently practical explanation. The mediaeval masons always completed a north wall first, otherwise they would be working in the shadow of the south wall, since the sun was their only light! The layout of the building is slightly unconventional, since it would appear from a ground plan as if there were no transepts. From the exterior it is evident that transepts do exist, it is just that they do not protrude out beyond the walls of the side aisles – the roofs, however, do go much higher than the aisle roofs.

Because the site of the Cathedral slopes quite dramatically down towards the Molendinar Burn to the east, floor levels had to be treated carefully. 

This created a huge undercroft at the east end beneath the choir, and in fact in pre-Reformation times this formed an entirely separate church, which was a place of pilgrimage containing the remains of St. Kentigern (or Mungo) to whom the Cathedral was dedicated. 

This Church had its own entrances, and an ambulatory around the east end, which allowed the pilgrims to move through in a kind of one-way system.

Despite its mainly thirteenth century date, the Cathedral does have some later “extensions”. One of these is the so-called Blacader (pronounced Blackadder!) aisle on the south side. 

The lower section of this was laid out in the thirteenth century,at the same time and in the same style as the rest of the building, and apparently was intended eventually to be a two storey construction. For whatever reason the project was abandoned with the walls completed only to one storey height. When Blacader was Archbishop (Glasgow’s first) from 1483-1508, he had the vaulting put in and brought the aisle into use. At the N.E corner of the main building is a two storey tower added in the fifteenth century but with a sympathetic eye to the earlier architecture. 

It houses the sacristy on the upper floor and the chapter house below. Also on the northern side of the building is a sturdy low structure. This was originally of two storey height and held what was probably the original sacristy with a treasury/strong room below – which for security reasons had no ground floor access – it could only be reached by descending from the upper floor. The reduction in height probably occurred at the time the chapter house was built.

HMcB then took us to the west front where differences in the weathering of the stone pointed to the fact that something had been demolished. He told us that there had been two towers at the corners which had been demolished in the mid-nineteenth century as it had been believed that they were sixteenth century additions. Old engravings showed that the N.W tower had risen as high as the central tower does now (minus the fifteenth century stone spire built to replace a fourteenth century wooden one burnt down after a lightning strike), but that the S.W tower had only been as high as the aisle roof. HMcB excavated the foundations of these towers during the 1980s and discovered that the founds of the N.W tower were of thirteenth century date, although the demolition had effectively destroyed the connection between the tower and the rest of the building so it couldn’t be proved that they were exactly contemporary. 

The S.W tower however, was a fifteenth century addition, probably mirroring the chapter house. It is possible that it was built at the time Glasgow University was established, in order to free space elsewhere within the building to allow the early classes to take place.

In contrast to the wealth of information that can be gleaned from the exterior, the interior of Glasgow Cathedral reveals few of its past phases. 

Excavations in 1992-3 for new central heating ducts revealed traces of the earlier cathedral buildings, as well as the remains of a wall put across the nave at the time of the Reformation, when the Cathedral had been divided into three working churches. 

The Choir became the parish church of the upper part of Glasgow, the west end of the walled-off nave was the church for lower Glasgow, and the space between was allowed to fall into disuse. The undercroft retained the separateness it had always had and became the church for the Barony parish.

The Blacader aisle is lime-washed and has brightly painted roof-bosses. It gives a good idea of what the main body of the church would have looked like in Mediaeval times. In the undercroft, HMcB pointed out twelfth century pillars which marked the ends of the aisles as Bishop Jocelyn had envisaged them, and before they were extended to the full length of the building. The site of St. Kentigern’s tomb is marked by a modern altar and investigations showed a pipe linking a nearby basin to the well in the S.E corner which probably allowed the “miraculous” dispensing of holy water to pilgrims.

The choir is today used as a parish church, and so is fitted out with pews facing the altar rather than the choir stalls ranged along the sides facing each other that it would have had in pre-Reformation times.

As HMcB finished talking and answered a couple of questions from his enthralled audience we realised that the time was fast approaching 6pm, and the Cathedral was about to be locked for the night. We made our way out of the building marvelling that two hours could have gone so swiftly, and thanking HMcB for passing on so much fascinating information about what he candidly told us was his favourite building. I, for one, suspected that he could have talked for a lot longer!

On Saturday 1st March 2003, a very small Scottish TTFF outing took place. In deference to the likely weather at that time of year it had been decided that at least some of the day should be under cover. Therefore the venue was to be the Falkirk area, and the first meeting place was to be Callendar House, part of Falkirk’s museum service. We met in the shop, paid our entrance fees and embarked on our journey of discovery. I had visited Callendar House before and had a good idea of what I would be seeing, but for Douglas, Laura, Eleanor and Catriona, however, it was a first time experience. The first part of the ground floor is a history of the house from mediaeval times until its purchase by the Forbes family.  

This was followed by a visit to the amazing 1820 kitchen. It has remained more or less untouched since it was set up (with one or two late 19th century “improvements”) and the visit is enhanced by the services of a costumed interpreter who tells what life would have been like for a scullery maid in the early 19th century, as well as explaining what all the various kitchen implements were for. A visit to this kitchen is a pleasant experience in March because they still light the open fire every day – I’m not so sure whether I would enjoy it quite so much in July! The fire has a spit roasting mechanism which uses the heat from the fire rising up the chimney to turn a vane, which in turn via a series of cogs and pulleys rotates the spit to ensure even roasting of the meat, thereby saveing the arms of the kitchen maids or the paws of the dogs that were used to turn earlier versions of such spits! Every visitor to the kitchen is allowed a tasting of something made to an authentic recipe, it was a kind of Spanish shortbread biscuit that we were offered, and very nice it was too!  

On leaving the kitchen we went through an interesting temporary exhibition on the history of photography, which was enhanced by enlargements of works by local photographers. It had a nostalgia factor on two levels, firstly for the local visitors who were going through the “Oh, I remember when it was like that!” routine, and for us who were doing the “I had an Instamatic just like that one!” bit…..

Next, we ascended the stairs to take a look at the fine Morning and Drawing Rooms, as well as the Library which now houses Falkirk Distict’s Local History Research Centre (and incidentally has an amazing painted rib ceiling). Climbing again we reached the main exhibition floor which houses the exhibition “William Forbes’ Falkirk”. This is a very thorough look at the history of the area from the late 18th century into the 19th century – in fact we agreed that if anything, it was a bit too thorough. We could see that it would be useful for school parties who might only be looking at one particular aspect, but for the general visitor there seemed to be just too many words!

There were things that we did like however. The girls enjoyed putting cogs together in the right way to make the hands of a model clock turn, and we all liked the three costumed interpreters we met in this part of the museum. First was a clockmaker/repairer, who showed us around his shop, and explained the use of diamonds in a watch mechanism…..something I had always wondered about! Next we met the girl serving behind the counter of the General Store, who showed us the range of things that were sold in such places and told us that at that time shops had to be licenced to sell tea! Finally, we visited the printer where they showed us how to set type, how to ink the plates and sent us away each clutching a watch repairers slip, such as we had seen a few minutes before at the clock shop.  

The bank of the Antonine Wall as it passes in front of Callendar House

If you want a driveway to your front door – just drive straight through any obstacles, even if the obstacle happens to be a Roman earthwork!

By this time it was nearing one o’clock and stomachs were beginning to rumble, so we decided to repair to the tea shop in the stables of the old house. After lunch we went to explore the remains of the Antonine Wall which run through the grounds There is a break in the Wall here, however, where the Forbes family wanted a driveway to lead straight to their admittedly impressive facade, they just drove it straight through the banks! A stroll around the house brought us to the adventure playground, where it was decided that we would part company, Douglas and Laura deciding that the girls, who had been impeccably behaved all morning, probably wouldn’t want to visit another museum.  

The back door of Callendar House

Letting off steam

I drove on to another site administered by Falkirk Council, not knowing really what I was going to! Arriving on the main drive of the Kinneil estate there was a superb view towards a house that I had previously been unaware of. I eventually worked out (I had to work it out because the sign had been vandalised) that the museum was in a small building off to the right of the drive. I parked the car and went in to an enthusiastic welcome from the attendant. She explained that there was a 15 minute video to introduce the estate and offered to set it going for me. After watching the presentation which did a very good job of outlining the history of the estate and what there was to see, I went back into the main part of the museum and looked at the displays. Again the attendant was very helpful and gave me copies of the various leaflets they had. One was a guide which detailed a trail around the remains. Since the weather had proved much kinder than anyone has a right to expect that early in the year, I decided to see where it would take me.  

Kinneil House, with the museum in the right foreground. The line of the Antonine Wall can just be made out, running between the two, roughly through the tall conifer

In the museum, a model of Kinneil fortlet, and some of the finds from the excavations there

The finds include leather footwear

Roman altar displayed in the museum

Starting from the museum you can walk along towards the house, parallel to the visible line of the Antonine Wall. The house itself, dates (in its earliest parts) from the early sixteenth century, when it was built by the Hamilton family. It was added to in 1553 by James Hamilton, the Governor of Scotland until Mary Queen of Scots came of age. In 1677 Duchess Anne Hamilton completed the building. But from the early eighteenth century the Hamiltons concentrated on their other homes and Kinneil was let to a succession of tenants. Behind the house is a ruined cottage originally built as a workshop for the engineer James Watt. He was working with a tenant of the house, Dr John Roebuck (founder of the Carron Ironworks) on a project to develop an improved steam engine for use in pumping water from coal mines. The prototype was tested on the privacy of the estate to keep the development from being copied. Watt worked here in 1769 and 1770, but the trials were not entirely successful and after Roebuck went bankrupt, Watt continued his work with Matthew Boulton in Birmingham, where the engine was perfected.  

Passing the north face of Kinneil House , at the start of the trail

Remains of the cottage where James Watt worked

Beyond the cottage the trail goes over a deep ravine carved by the Gil burn, so deep that it caused the Roman engineers to deviate in a dog-leg from the straight line of the Antonine Wall! Crossing the ravine via a foot bridge, the path leads the visitor around to the remains of Kinneil Parish Church, of which only the western gable with its double belfry – once a landmark for ships entring Bo’ness harbour- remains. It is a 12th century building which once served a large parish including the mediaeval village of Kinneil. The visible slabs in the graveyard are all 17th century, but this is a layered cemetery where new soil would be brought in whenever the graveyard was full so that new burials could take place – leaving the ground outside the church 5 feet higher than the floor level inside! In the 17th century a population shift into the new port of Bo’ness led to Kinneil church being under used, and then, in 1669, suppressed in favour of a new parish church in Bo’ness. 

Gorge of the Gil Burn

The remaining gable of Kinneil Parish Church with its twin bell housing

The place where Kinneil village once stood

Again the path leads on and, passing the site of the village of Kinneil, follows the line of the Antonine Wall towards the Roman fortlet which was once part of the defensive system delineating the northernmost frontier of the Empire. Around 20 soldiers would have patrolled the area from their billets in the fortlet. An excavation in 1981 showed that the outer wall was of turf blocks laid on a stone base, there was a gravel road running from a south gate to a north gate, and today timber posts mark the sites of a barrack building and a store. From the fortlet, a pleasant amble back over the meadow completed an interesting trip which had covered periods of history ranging from the second century AD, through to the industrial age. Altogether, a rewarding day out.

Looking along to Kinneil fortlet, marked by large timbers to the right if the photograph
A nearer view of the fortlet
The north gateway of the fortlet
The original line of the defensive bank of the fortlet is marked by stones set into the turf
The information board at the Fortlet
Final view of Kinneil House
report and photos by valerie reilly	page last updated 8/7/2003

Alfold – 28 December 2004 A small but select group of Cantiacii (Ron, Nish, Tig, Cliff, Lauren, Mark, and Charlotte) gathered near the back entrance to Dunsfold Airfield for a short post-Christmas wander through the woods around Alfold in Surrey. After heavy rain the preceding day the frozen ground had turned into a quagmire but fortunately the first half hour’s walk to Alfold village was on well-surfaced paths, so by the time we arrived we were still in presentable condition.

First port of call was St Nicholas’ Church , first built in the 12th century, with a south aisle and then a north aisle added at roughly hundred year intervals. The church is notable for its medieval bell tower supports made of solid oak timber, a fine Norman font, and a churchwardens’ chest of 1687.

Outside is a very well worn slab of Sussex marble which is said to mark the grave of Jean Carre, one of the last of the French glassmakers in this area, who died in 1572. Second port of call was to the Crown Inn, where a reserved table awaited us.

Suitably refreshed and fed, we set off down Rosemary Lane (which, for a dead end, seemed very busy!) towards Highbridge.

This marks the spot where the lane used to cross the Wey & Arun Canal, the tidied-up remains of which can be seen in the cottage garden (above) and in more derelict form on the other side of the road (below).

From Highbridge we headed off into the woods, meeting up with the dried up bed of the canal again about half a mile further on. We then followed the muddy towpath for a couple of hundred yards to the site of Knighton’s Glassworks. The steps down from the towpath that I remembered had long since rotted away – Tig gave an excellent demonstration of descending a slippery clay slope the quick way – and the interpretative board had almost completely faded. Eventually we worked out that the moss-covered lumps in front of us were, in fact the remains of the glassworks, but there were no longer any signs of the remains of the ancient molten drips of glass that could once be seen there. From the glassworks the older members of the party continued along the towpath – the younger ones decided that the bed of the canal was more exciting – past the site of a derelict lock, the only indication of which was a rise in the level of the path. Although largely drained, the canal bed beyond the site of the lock has been cleared and only awaits the return of the water. Part of the towpath is closed off to the public and we therefore had to turn off through the woods to get back to the car park. Some rather unkind comments were subsequently made about the leader’s navigational skills on this section – deciding which of two paths to take by the traditional method of “eeny, meeny, miney, mo” and doubts were raised about his lunchtime beer consumption, but the cars were eventually spotted through the trees before it got dark, unlike the previous year’s midwinter expedition. Other photos (taken the following day):

looking south from the bridge over the canal by the back gate of Dunsfold Airfield. The culvert on the right drains off the airfield into the canal.
 

 looking north from the same bridge to where a canal trust working party was cutting down trees. It is hoped to re-open this section soon for hire boat trips.

above and below: the rewatered section near the car park, south and north of the road, respectively.

all that remains to link the two is to replace the long-vanished bridge which once carried the road clear of the canal at this point.

The Wey and Arun Canal – London’s lost route to the sea

The idea of building a canal to link the River Wey and the River Arun, and so provide an inland water route between London and the south coast, was first put forward in the mid-17th century. Nothing became of it at that time, but a hundred years later the River Wey had been made navigable from the Thames as far as Godalming and the Arun to beyond Pulborough, and a scheme was promoted for a canal to fill the 20-mile gap between them. However, work did not start until 1813 and the canal was not completed until 1816. The new canal was a failure right from the start. The through traffic which had been expected failed to materialise. The coastal route proved more attractive now that the war with the French had ended and Channel shipping was no longer threatened. Local traffic was insufficient to pay the costs of running the canal although the benefits to agriculture in the area were considerable. The supply of water to keep the canal topped up was always a problem. The company had enlarged Vachery Pond, just south of Cranleigh, to act as a reservoir, but even so, there were often restrictions in dry periods. This meant the carrying capacity of boats had to be reduced, further undermining the venture’s usefulness. The canal had been in operation for only a couple of decades when railways began to spread across the south of England. In 1865 the line from Guildford to Horsham via Cranleigh opened for business, depriving the canal of even its local traffic. By 1871 it was bankrupt and was abandoned after a working life of just 55 years. It was already in a poor state of repair, and it did not take long for nature to begin to reclaim its course. Most of the bridges were demolished once the canal had been drained, and even brickwork from the locks seems to have been scavenged. Parts of the canal bed were sold off and have now been built over but its old course can be traced for considerable distances. Interest in the canal was revived in the 1960s with the publication of Paul Vine’s poignantly-titled book London’s Lost Route to the Sea. With several schemes to restore closed canals being promoted in other parts of the country, local enthusiasts set up a Trust to attempt the ‘impossible’. Progress has been slow, but many parts of the canal have now been restored and rewatered, although it will still be many years before there is any chance of reopening it as a through route.

Ron Strutt

Hunterian Museum , Glasgow

In mid January, Valerie, Co and Nancy visited the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow to see the Romans in Scotland exhibition which deals with the presence of Romans in Scotland in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The focus is mainly on the Antonine wall frontier and the lives of the soldiers based in the forts along its length. The Wall was constructed of stacks of turf which were laid on a stone foundation. In front of the wall was a wide ditch. A road ran behind the wall and Forts were built which housed regiments of auxiliaries. leather footwear Cremation Urn Cartwheel from Newstead metal objects Selection of arrow heads including a javelin or spear head and arrow heads for fire arrows  Copper dixie, found at Bar Hill fort leather covering for a shield decorative drain A series of inscribed stone markers called distance slabs record the sections of wall completed by each of the three Legions (II, VI, and XX) stationed in Britain during its construction in AD 142-144. Distance Slab of Second Augustan legion who completed 4140 feet Distance Slab of Twentieth Legion from Hutcheson Hill , Bearsden An altar honouring the ‘Goddesses of the Paradeground’  -The inscription means “To the eternal field dieties of Britain, Quintus Pisentius Justus, Praefect of the 4th Cohort of the Gaullish Auxilliaries dedicates this his vow being most willing fulfilled.” Death mask of Bonnie Prince Charlie Roman Scotland exhibition Co outside the reconstructed Charles Rennie MacKintosh building The Hunterian Museum  Nancy and Co photos by co and valerie reilly last updated 20/03/04

After meeting at Red House Antiques Centre, for coffee and a quick get-to-know-you session the day began when John Oxley who is Archaeologist for the City of York Council, and was the main liaison officer between them and Time Team during the dig there, started our guided tour of York.

First stop was the Multiangular Tower followed by St.Leonard’s Hospital grounds, where part of the dig was carried out. There is a website for the Multangular Tower at: http://www.york.gov.uk/walls/romans/multower.html

We then walked along a section of the City Walls including an area below the walls not open to the public where we were given an insight into the Roman defences of the City.

After lunch, we made our way to Walmgate with John. Next, it was onto the Barley Hall, which was the location of the 1999 Christmas Special for a costume guided tour. Finally we all met up back at the Red House Antiques Centre for the end of day meeting. Oh and some of us met up in the evening for a drinkie or two as well!

All demonstrations over , our party separated for a while to pursue whichever of the Castle’s many areas attracted them most. Eventually we all regrouped on the roof terrace (some more quickly than others it has to be admitted) and enjoyed an alfresco lunch. Is this the first time a TTFF outing has not involved the searching out of a pub with ambience and good beer? The end of our visit to the Castle came with (as all good visits should) a look around the gift shop. 

What is the use of a visit to a historic site opined Joshua, if you can’t buy fudge in the gift shop? An interesting perspective on history, but then he is 15! 

Siobhan however plumped for a plastic sword with which, moments later, she was engaged in a sword fight with the recruiting sargeant, by way of saying goodbye.. 

We returned to our cars, and the three vehicles processed down the winding streets of Stirling for the couple of miles out to Bannockburn.

Here Joshua rebelled and said that since he had been round the place two or three times before, he would sit in the cafeteria and read his book until we were finished. 

We moved on into the displays, which I for one was not particularly impressed with as, rather than dealing with Bannockburn itself, they seemed to try to give the sweep of Scottish history after the battle in a somewhat superficial way – aimed at the American tourist rather than anyone who might know something about the subject. The AV presentation was somewhat better as it did concentrate on the actual battle. 

We followed the look round the visitor centre (highlight Siobhan wearing a mediaeval helmet) with a walk out onto the battlefield itself to see the huge flagpole marking the site, and the equestrian statue of Robert the Bruce unveiled by the Queen in 1964 to mark the 650th anniversary of the battle. Then we rejoined Joshua in the cafeteria for a final drink and chat and to throw around one or two ideas for a next get together. 

At about four o’clock we parted company on the best of terms, regretting the absence of those who hadn’t been able to make it, and hoping that more of us would be able to join the next time.

This is an account of a half day conference organised, in early 2004, by the Renfrewshire Local History Forum’s Archaeology section:-

The first speaker of the afternoon was Derek Alexander, the National Trust for Scotland’s West Region Archaeologist. He told how the Trust wanted to investigate the founds of a building in the garden of Kilbarchan’s Weavers Cottage, the gable end only of which was still in existence. They wanted to see if they could determine the use of the building. A 2-metre trench was dug which revealed a rubbish pit. This held some surprises. The first was a neolithic axe. What was a 4000 year old artefact doing in amongst mostly 19th century pot? Even more of a surprise was the next find – a skull! This of course necessitated calling out the police. Derek told us that it must have been an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon – the final tally was 4 uniformed officers, 2 CID, 2 forensic photographers and a doctor – to pronounce the skull dead!!!

Eventually the skull was taken off for testing and was pronounced to be “not recent”. Subsequent C14 testing indicated that it dated to somewhere between 1490 and 1630.

The search for a past use of the building had proved inconclusive but the process had been interesting. The possible explanation for the skull and axe was that a past custodian of the Cottage had been an amateur archaeologist and may have collected random artefacts.

Our next speaker was Tom Addyman of Addyman Associates. They had been commissioned by Renfrewshire Council when the imminent collapse of the Graveyard wall at the West Parish Church had forced its excavation, so that a new stronger wall could be built. The Council had told Tom to dig back 6 feet. He pointed out that this was likely to prove very expensive as, by law, if even the toe bones of a burial were disturbed then the whole body had to be properly excavated and recorded. To their credit they still gave the go-ahead! The excavation took place in May 2002 and took about six weeks. The wall itself had to be taken down carefully as it was known that ancient stones were included within its structure. Then the various graves began to appear. First to be excavated were a couple of table graves where the top slab had been relocated when the graveyard level had been raised in the 19th century, but interestingly the pillars on which the slabs had lain were still in situ. As the dig progressed it was clear that the graves fell into three approximate phases beginning in the late 18th century and ending with the closing of the graveyard in the very late 19th century. The first burials encountered had good skeletal preservation, but very little evidence of the coffins (except coffin nails). As they dug down further, they found the opposite situation. A high water table meant that wood remained – although in a very spongy state – but the bones had been leached away.

Incidental finds included large amounts of 19th century pottery, buttons, and clay pipes. The star find however was more spectacular. It was a small pottery bird whistle – the sort of thing we all had a plastic version of when we were younger. It was shaped like a bird, and it would have been filled with water, then when you blew down its tail it would produce a bird-like whistle. This turned out to be 14th century French and from the Santonge (sp?) area. The puzzle is, of course, to explain what it would be doing in a small Scottish village!

Third on the agenda was Julie Roberts of Glasgow University. She gave a report on the 56 sets of skeletal remains that she had been able to study. And the interesting point was made that she had done this work in the Church Hall, meaning that the remains (which have now been reburied in one large grave) never left the graveyard! Only two of the skeltons were complete enough to determine heights, and these were both males in the 5ft 9ins range. She was able to extrapolate some general information about health patterns from evidence of such diseases as osteoarthritis, and she also noted one strange wear pattern on the teeth of some of the individuals. This was a groove worn on the upper incisors, usually on the left side. This only appeared on the skeletons of the two later phases of burials, and it is reckonned that it may coincide with the introduction of the weaving trade, being caused by using the teeth to break threads.

The final speaker was Stephen Clancy of the Renfrewshire Local History Forum. He reported on a small exploratory dig done by the RLHF Archaeology section. Two residents of a housing scheme built on the lands of the former Craigends estate, once owned by the Cunningham family, had approached the Forum and asked them to investigate a spread of pottery beside a woodland pathway. A small trench was dug over a weekend in late 2003. The pottery seems to be part of a rubbish dump which will bear further examination, along with some strange built features which probably form part of the old estate. This seemed to be a story which will have further installments……

Altogether, an interesting and worthwhile afternoon, looking at the archaeology of one small village.

TTFF Cantiaci visit to Newdigate 2005

A small group, comprising Ron, Sir Mark, and ‘Nish paid a visit to Newdigate in Surrey on a cold winter’s Saturday. The main aim of the trip was to see two historic hamlets which are well off the beaten track.

First port of call was to Cudworth, where there is a moated manor house – one of the few in Surrey which you can see from close quarters – reached by a covered bridge which has a dovecote set into its roof.

The earliest surviving (central) part of the manor house dates to around 1500 but it has been greatly altered over the years. Ironically, on the side nearest the road the timber-framing of the oldest part of the building has been replaced by brick, while the part which is timber-framed was built between the First and Second World Wars.

In 1902 the Cudworth Estate was bought by the Small Holders Association and divided up into plots for sale to people who wanted to build a house and farm a few acres, an idea which became popular with early socialists in particular. Cudworth was also the site of one of the first holiday camps in the country. Now a mobile home park, it originally provided tents for its holidaymakers.

Leaving Cudworth, and after a short walk down a country lane, we turned into Dukes Road, the driveway through the lands of Newdigate Place. The driveway, more a track, is named after a 19th century Duke of Norfolk who owned the Manor of Newdigate. The driveway crosses a bridge over a spillway joining the two parts of Monks Lake. (I have yet to see any suggestion that there was ever a monastery in the vicinity.

The trackway was once the main drive to Newdigate Place, a late Victorian mansion that was so damaged during its wartime occupation by the army that it had to be demolished. Its replacement is a mere bungalow although the elegant stable block remains. The driveway has also seen better times, only a few of the Scots Pines which once lined it remaining. At the far end is Newdigate Home Farm, a building of various parts and ages – the oldest has been dendro-dated to 1351 – with a selection of chimney styles and roofing materials, including the local and very heavy Horsham stone slabs. Two of the barns are 15th century in origin.

Having scattered a group of quietly grazing deer, a trek across the fields brought us back into Newdigate village, where we had lunch at the Six Bells opposite the church, famed for its 14th century timber tower. After lunch we headed off the Ewood, another of Surrey’s lost hamlets (the name Newdigate means ‘on the road to Ewood’). Ewood was once one of Surrey’s – which means one of the country’s – major industrial centres. An ironworks was already well-established here by 1553 and it was one of the few places in the country which was specifically exempted from Acts of 1558 and 1581 which limited the cutting down of trees, thanks to the highly efficient system of coppicing practised at Ewood.

The main pond which drove the ironworks covered around 80 to 100 acres, held back by a 200m-long dam (or pond bay) of substantial height. The pond as long been drained but its site can be recognised by the presence of a very large, wet field. The length of the pond, from north to south, is marked in the first photograph by a hedge in the far distance. The lip of the pond can be seen in the second photograph by the vanishing tyre tracks in the centre – it stretched as far as the houses in the distance. The houses, incidentally, are part of an exclusive ‘executive homes‘ development built on the site from 1937 to 1981 of the Schermuly Pistol Rocket Apparatus factory (see http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/schermuly/). We followed a footpath which ran along the line of part of the dam and through one of the more squelchy areas at its foot, ‘Nish being sent ahead to see if this particular patch was passable!

The dam can most clearly be seen behind the 17th century Mill Cottage, as can the gap where the waterwheel would have been sited. Sadly, there are few other indications of the past use of this idyllic spot. Ironmaking ceased here in 1610, after which the pond was used to power a water mill but was gradually drained during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Nearby is the delightful grouping of Ewood Farmhouse (also dating from the period when the ironworks went out of use) and its adjacent barns and granary.

Newdigate village and its surrounding parish are well worth exploring for their rich collection of buildings (see http://www.dbrg.org.uk/newdigate.html#pagetop).

Photos and Text by Ron Strutt

Rye and Winchelsea 17th April 2004
The day started rather cool and windy when we gathered outside the church of St Thomas the Martyr in Winchelsea.  The church is a substantial building, despite that fact that all that remains now is the chancel, which explains its unusual square shape. The question is, how much of the church was actually built? The signs are that it was a bit more than actually survives, but by no means all, unless the major part of it was destroyed during one of the many French raids on the town in the 14th century.  Some of the effigies in the church are thought to have been brought from the old church, which was destroyed, along with the rest of the original town of Winchelsea, in a storm in 1287. The vivid stained glass windows are fairly modern. The new town was built on a rocky hill on which stood the tiny village of Iham. The grid-like pattern of wide streets shows the planned nature of the new settlement. The buildings date from all periods from the 13th century Court Hall onwards. One common feature of many of the buildings are the barrel-vaulted undercrofts which were built to store the wine which was imported through the town. Our guide, Mike Greenhalgh of the Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group, had arranged for us to visit one of the smaller ones, which is now under the front garden of a modern house. The entrances to many of the others (about 50 survive) can be seen around the town. We also visited the site of the long-vanished Saxon church of St Leonard’s, Iham, on the edge of the hill, just outside the present town. A windmill subsequently stood on the spot until it was blown down in the storm of 1987 After a visit to the Strand Gate, where Charlotte disturbed one of the residents… we headed on to Rye for lunch in the Bell Inn … After lunch we headed off on a tour of Rye, losing various members of the party as we went From the end of Watchbell Street there is an excellent view over the Strand Quay towards the old sea cliffs. All this area was once sea. From there we visited the Ypres Tower, once one of the town’s most important defensive positions… …and then via the church to the Landgate… and back via the old Augustinian monastery, with its windows bricked up, but the fine tracery preserved…….which concluded our all too brief, if chilly, visit. Many thanks to our guide Mike for giving up his time to treat us to an excellent tour and for his wealth of local knowledge
report and photos by Ron Strutt