ESSEX SOCIETY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY (Founded as the Essex Archaeological Society in 1852) Digitisation Project ESSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS SUMMER 1980 TO AUTUMN 1984 (Nos. 71 to 88) 2014 ESAH REF: N1071088 ISSN 0305-8530 _ Essex Archaeological . News Summer 1980 ESSEX ARCHAEOLOOICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 71 SUMMER, 1980. CONTENTS :- Comment •.••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Coming Events ••••••••••••.•••• 2 Visit to Mersea •••••••••••••o• 3 Wri ttle Sign ............ o ••• 4 Excursion to Norwich •oo•o••••o 5 Waltham Abbey Museum ·••o•••••• 6 Field Walking at Ardale School. 7 The Mucking Conference •••••••• 8 News from the Record Office ••• 9 r STOP' Starts •.••••••• • ••• • ••• 10 The Windows of Hadstock ••••••• 11 Letters to the Editor ·· o o ·' •• o ••• 13&14 Excavations at Cressing Temple •• 15 New course in Local History •••• 16 Essex Book List • o .• o •••••••••• o • 17 Studying Palaeography •••••••• oo 18 North Weald Airfield ••••••••••• 19 Library Corner 22 Back to the CF I •••••••••••••••• 25 The illustration on the front cover is of a 14th c. floor tile, of provenance unknown but from the Towns­ hend collection and now being studied by Paul Drury. It shows a pair of scissors, which, unlike shears, were uncommon before the 16th c., particularly in representation. Drawn by John Callaghan, Chelmsford Excavation Committee. This newsletter is collated and edited by: John E. Sellers, 1 Chignall Road, Chelmsford~ CM1 2JA. for the Publications Committee, EAS. Contributions for the Autumn Newsletter by the first week in August~ please. C<:l\AMENT 1 No periodical or journal is ever self-effacing, nor can it be since a certain pru1ache is all part of the image business, so we may be forgiven for voicing a certain measure of self satisfaction, possibly mild narcissism over the fact that the Society publications were the winning entry of category 'A' (written and ·illustrated work) in the Essex County Council Local Amenity Societies Award Scheme. The entry was made by Margaret Jones using the Vol 9, 1977, Essex Archaeology ·and History and the four Newsletters for 1978. Perhaps this was using a steamroller to crack a nut, but we had not entered the competition previously and it seemed time that we ~de the point. Actually the rules of the comp­ etition have changed from involving both an event and its Pt1blication within the yearP to the more reason­ able system of accepting both event and the publication separately. The side effects, apart from the acceptable publicity are that we have a £100 award, which goes towards the Rex Hull Transactions {possibly Vol 12). The presentation of awards was made at County Hall on the 23rd April by His Grace the Duke of Grafton. As President I accepted the award to the Society while the other awards were made to:= Herongate and Ingrave Village Preservation Society, winning entry for Category 'B', entries involving physical effort. Feering and Kelvedon Preservation Society, winning entry for Category 'C', Small Societies. Bishops Stortford and District Local History Society, runner-up in the Small Societies category. The Essex Chronicle Award went to the Thaxted Windmill Restoration Committee, and a Special Plaque commemorating the restoration of Ramsey Windmill to Captain M. Organ, the owner. All this was well publicised on a centre-spread of the Essex Chronicle, which both supports and spons.ors the scheme. 2 CCNING EVJ<;NTS Saturday 21st June 'STANSTEAD THREATENED' A tour of the area at risk from the proposed airport expansion. Meet at 11 a.m. at 1The Little Chef 1 at the east end of Takely, south side of the road. It is hoped to visit Takely, Elsenham, Stan­ stead Mountfitchet and Tilty before finishing at Lindsell where there will be a Flower Festival and a local history exhibition. Friday 18th July Exhibition of Costumes, and a social evening at Chelmsford Museum, 7.45 p.m. Mrs Valerie Mansfield will give a talk entitled 'Antiquities of the poor 1 , after which there will be refreshments. The evening will be similar to the Social evenings held at Hollytrees, and the cost will be £3 per head. Please fill in the enclosed form and return it to the Social Secretary (address on the rear of the newsletter) together with a cheque made out to the Essex Archaeological Society. Saturday 20th September Afternoon visit to Clavering and Langley. Meet at Langley church at 2.15 p .. m. a talk will be given by Robert Wood on 'Farming at Clavering in the fourteenth centuryv and not as Mr Wood was alarmed to see it announced in the Spring ~· There will be a local history exhibition in the church, and if anyone would like to make this a whole day outing Miss Ludgate has very kindly offered to give a guided tour of Clavering in the morning. Anyone interested in taking up this offer should telephone Miss Ludgate on 070 985 365. Thursday 16th October THE MORANT DINNER will be held in the Balkerne Room of Colchester Institute, the guest of honour will be Dr David Stephenson. Tickets £6.50 each. The Balkerne Room is the very attractive restaurant of the Institute Catering Department, it has its own bar. Margaret Cornwall 3 V IS IT TO MERSEA 19th· April, 1980 There had been an EAS Cotmcil meeting in the morning in the Church Hall behind West Mersea Church, and most of us retired to that excellent hostelry, The Rose, at Peldon, for refreshments. At 2.15.p.m. we appeared as requi.red at East Mersea church, where I was lucky enough to meet Mr J .H.G. Sunnucks who was our host for the afternoon. Members were looking armmd the church and admiring the perched pulpit in wood, which appeared to have no access (query levitation), and appreciating this -large, aisled and airy church, which is surprisingly well lit. The west tower is Perp. to go with most o-f the church, and is of impressive size, was this a landfall mark? Mr Jofu:l Bennett, past Treasurer and Librarian of the Society was theZ.e as a local inhabitant and historian to describe thellistory of the Island including the topography,for the~e is an obvious Roman /Saxon I present day field bound­ ary which could well mark the original Roman way onto the Island, and which continues as a !22, straight boundary ·to this day. Meanwhile parties of limited number were going up the tower, (there was a limit because of respect for the final tower timbers ) • I went outside and photographed microscopic members peering through the castellations, quite a view ~rom up there. Later we all retired to East Mersea Hall which is Mr Sunnucks 1 splendid home, and saw the front of the house which has been extended in timber style, before moving through to the rear where the original timbers could be seen exposed. The medieval pottery pundits gathered around the pottery found in the flower~bed by the rear 1moat 1 (which appears to be 13th c. cooking variety) and I greatly suspect that there is a kiln where the pottery was found, ?with dark ashy deposit, could it be that the rear pond/moat has been a clay-pit, or at least used for that purpose? Afterwards we were led through the charming garden to look at the problem of the moat, it really does not appear to 'contain' the house, and one wonders. Bidding goodbye we moved on to the tumulus, this is Roman and on the way to the Strood5 it has been tunnelled horiz­ ontally and now has a locked door. 4 Visit _to Mersea It is in the guardianship of ColGhester ~useum.,, and David Clarke, the CUrator of Colchester, was there to gu;ide us. I have been in the tumulus ·:before and so gave this a miss but can say from experience that it has mucn in common with pot-holing, in that one reaches the end and comes out again. As it was,an occasional scraped head suggests that safety helmets may Qe necessary.. · Next to West Mersea church,(those wishing to cut-and-run being foiled by the tide which was up over the Strood) Here we had an excellent tea in the Church Hall before gathering in the church itself to hear a churchwarden, Mr Tom Millatt, tell us about. the church and improvements. Fore~ost amongst these ·are the new pews and pulpit which come from Ken Mabbitt 1 s workshop, not to mention the · magnificently restored Lion, Unicorn, Rose and Thistle of the Royal Arms which now grace the entrance to the west tower. The new woodwork is in oak, and light in colour, which togetherwith the newly sand~d floor gives an altogethergoodimpression of the. church .as b~autiful, gracious, comfortable and 1new 9 • Hasten the day when the remaining Victorian church-varnished pews in drab chocolate brown, are replaced by these impressive new ones. All good things come to an end, and we reluctantly left the lovely woodwork, and dispersed. J .E.S. ************* Writtle Sign The next day I was lucky to be present when the new Writtle Village Sign was mounted on the green there. Intricately carved and decorated in bright primary colours , it reminded-me at once of the Coat of Arms at Mersea - and sure enough it too comes from the Mabbitt workshop. It means much more to me for !mowing that, but the side benefit is that whenever I see it on my daily travel, it reminds me irresistibly of Mersea. ************* 5 Excm·sion to Norwich by Tony Doncaster. On Saturday, May 10th, a fine and sunny day a coachload of members of this Society joined by members of the Chelmsford Branch of the Historical Association, and by Friends of Historic Essex left Chelmsford, picking up the Colchester contingent (including a member from Sudbury) at 9.15 at Marks Tey.