Royal Archaeological Institute Newsletter No April
OUR NEW PRESIDENT • Frances Healey IN THIS ISSUE David Breeze, who was elected President of the Institute at the AGM, was formerly Chief Inspector of Ancient Our New Monuments for Scotland. He is an Honorary Professor at the President universities of Durham, Edinburgh and Newcastle and chair of the International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies. David prepared the successful bid for World Heritage Site status for Grants and Awards the Antonine Wall and led the team which created the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, of which the Antonine Wall forms a part, together with Hadrian’s Wall Research Grant and the limes in Germany. It is thus the first Reports trans-national World Heritage Site, capable of becoming trans-continental, as it expands to encompass the physical Dates for your Diary remains of the entire border of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent in the second century . David retired Cardiff from the Inspectorate in , after Conference forty years’ service. He is author or co-author Summer Meeting of numerous books, both on Orkney popular and academic, and even more Autumn Day numerous papers. His Meeting at books include Greenwich Hadrian’s Wall ; The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain ; Edge of Miscellany Empire, Rome’s Scottish Frontier: The Antonine Caption Wall ; Roman Officers Competition and Frontiers ; the fourteenth edition of J. Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall ; Historic Scotland: moving from about £ , a year to People and Places ; Roman Scotland: a Guide to £ , , starting the revolution which has the Visible Remains ; A Queen’s Progress (on continued through the creation of the surviving buildings associated with Mary commercial archaeology in the s. The Queen of Scots); and The Stone of Destiny: other main change has been in relation to Artefact and Icon . He has, in other words, state-managed properties. The entry charge always enjoyed and made time for research was minimal in . This all changed and, indeed, is still engaged in tracing his following the Conservative victory in . family tree, a project on which he embarked Pressure started and has increased to raise the fifty-five years ago. revenue which might be made from David was happy to be interviewed for the encouraging more visitors to these Newsletter . properties. Interpretation has improved and guide books changed out of all recognition. What drew you to Archaeology and, in particular, At the same time, it would appear that the to the Roman military and frontiers? amount of conservation carried out to these I knew from the age of that I wanted to properties has decreased, which may create study history. I went up to Durham in problems in the future. In many ways, my to read modern history and was given Eric task was to steer the Scottish Inspectorate Birley, Professor of Archaeology, as my first through these waters, seeking more money, tutor. He introduced me to archaeology and more staff, better ways of doing our work. the rest, as they say, is history. As one who is an Honorary Professor at more How different was the Historic Scotland from than one university, how do you think the divides which you retired in from the predecessor between the state, university, commercial and body which you joined in , and were you voluntary sectors in archaeology can be better responsible for any of those changes? bridged? In I joined a UK department. This was There have been several attempts by broken up in and since then I have universities to bring in outsiders as occasional worked for the Scottish Office, later the lecturers, even to teach on some higher Scottish Executive. Within that framework, degree courses, but, at least in Scotland, there have been several distinctive changes these have not survived. At the same time, over the last forty years. When I joined there now that Inspectors no longer undertake was just one piece of legislation that we had excavations or similar work at their own to acknowledge, the Ancient hands, there is a necessity for them to keep Monuments Act. When I retired there were their knowledge, experience and skills balancing clauses in a whole range of statutes up-to-date. I suspect that the commercial which resulted in considerable discussions sector can get too narrowly focused on each between a wide range of state and quasi-state job and lose sight of the wider picture, while bodies. One signal advantage has been a the voluntary sector tends to get left out in move to a more integrated approach to the the cold. So one way forward might be to management of the countryside and a wider improve the communications between the acknowledgement of the role of the historic different parts of the discipline – perhaps environment within it. At the same time, through focused seminars and discussions – spending on archaeology in Scotland and arrange more secondments between the increased enormously through the s, members of the different sectors. What developments do you hope to see in the best possible face to the outside world so that RAI over the course of your Presidency? we can gain new members. There is a The main task over the next year is to feeling that the age span of the membership review life in the electronic age. The twin is getting increasingly weighted one way and foci of this are to see how we can improve we need to find ways of bringing younger the flow of information to our members, members into the Institute. This is not bearing in mind that not all have internet impossible. If we all sought to recruit one access and that we have a successful new member we would be able to achieve newsletter and journal, and to present the more for all of our members.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
AWARDS FOR THE February. Your doughty Secretary was PRESENTATION OF HERITAGE pleased to represent you again and is RESEARCH • Gill Hey delighted to report that the new venue was a great success, with a larger and The RAI is one of the co-sponsors (and better-informed audience provoking co-founders) of the Awards for the interesting discussions during question times. Presentation of Heritage Research, along The audience is also invited to score the with English Heritage, Historic Scotland, presentations and their combined decision is Cadw, the Northern Ireland Department of given equal weight to that of the judges. the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Irish Environment and This year it was extremely difficult to choose Heritage Service. We contribute £ a winner because the presentations were towards the prizes, and specifically that of extremely varied but all good – and this led the £ Under- Prize ; the main award is to a lively debate amongst the judges. As it worth £ , and there is a runner’s-up happened, the view of the audience matched award of £ . These go to the speakers the majority view of the judges and helped who demonstrate the most interesting and us to come to a decision – just in time for high-quality research, and also give the most the awards ceremony which was held in the lively and entertaining presentation. The function room of the Plough in Museum finalists for the day are whittled down Street (excellent refreshments being provided (by a judge from each of the sponsoring by English Heritage). organisations) from a much longer list of The winning presentation was from a non- applicants who provide a summary of their professional, Chris Yates, representing the project. South West Maritime Archaeological Group, Until recently, the awards have been held as who talked about Bronze Age copper trade: part of the British Association’s Festival of evidence from a maritime environment . The Science , but audiences have tended to be runner up was Brendon Wilkins talking small and the event did not receive the about Recently reported road deaths on the N : publicity it merited. This year, for the first BC to AD and the under- award time, we held the awards at Current went to Chantel Summerfield presenting The Archaeology’s Archaeology conference archaeology of a soldier’s identity in the twentieth which was at the British Museum from to century, uncovered through a comparison of . arborglyphs (that’s tree carvings!). But there the best in British archaeology. The awards were other excellent presentations, and ceremony will form the opening event of expect to hear some of them in a the twentieth Festival of British forthcoming RAI lecture programme. Archaeology, and will be held on July at the British Museum. Entries will be BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL judged in the following six categories: Best AWARDS Project, Best Community Project, Best Aimed at identifying the most impressive, Book, Best Representation of Archaeology innovative and imaginative archaeological in the Media, Best Discovery and Best endeavours of the past two years, the British Innovation. For further information see their Archaeological Awards are a showcase for website http: //www.britarch.ac.uk/awards
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE RESEARCH GRANTS The Institute awards the following grants annually: Tony Clark Fund Up to £ for archaeological work and dating Bunnell Lewis Fund Up to £ towards archaeology of the Roman period in the UK RAI Award Up to £ towards archaeological work in the UK Please write to the Administrator @ RAI c/o Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, London, for an application form. Closing date for applications: January . Awards announced in April .
MASTER’S DISSERTATION PRIZE Dr Rachel Pope: Kidlandee Dean Landcape project The RAI Master’s Dissertation Prize is a biennial prize of £ awarded for the best Dr Andy Jones: Bronze Age Settlements dissertation by a graduate student at a British Bosiliack, Cornwall university. The winner for the years Dr Tom Moore: Late Iron Age and Early and is Elena Martelli of University of Roman Bagendon, geophysical survey Reading for her dissertation ‘Clay Saccarii (Bunnel Lewis fund) (porters) from Roman Ostia: a study on Dr Eileen Wilkes: Mount Folly Enclosure commerce, social identity and cult’. project (Tony Clark fund)
GRANTS AWARDED FOR RAI RESEARCH GRANT REPORTS RESEARCH, B C C, K Research grants for have been awarded • Vicki Cummings and Gary Robinson to the following projects In June and July two trenches were Dr Dawn Hadley: West Halton excavated under the direction of staff of the post-excavation project Universities of Bangor and Central Excavation of the forecourt at Blasthill
Lancashire, at Blasthill, a Clyde-style sieving. Outside the chamber more pot chambered tomb in southern Kintyre. One sherds and a flint knife were found. trench over the northern part of the forecourt revealed a well-preserved facade L I A E R with in situ drystone walling in between the B ‒ • facade uprights. The forecourt had originally Dr Tom Moore been paved, and a series of burnt deposits was found underneath the paving which may The Late Iron Age complex at Bagendon, represent the clearance of the land surface for Gloucestershire is one of the most under cairn construction. A Bronze Age bead was investigated ‘oppida’ in Britain. Geophysical found on top of the paving, and the entire survey of the complex was aimed at forecourt had been infilled with cairn contextualising previous small-scale material,effectively blocking access into the excavations which have taken place within monument. the complex and revealed a first-century ‘industrial’ area. These excavations are A second trench was opened across the body currently the focus of a post-excavation of the cairn incorporating the lateral project. chamber. This revealed a complex construction sequence, whereby the chamber This season, around ha of the Bagendon was originally surrounded by a small circular oppidum complex was surveyed using cairn. This was later incorporated into a long high-resolution geophysics. This survey cairn. The cairn itself seems to have been revealed that a banjo enclosure in the centre made of large ‘core cairn’ stones topped with of the dyke system was associated with a turf and with smashed quartz scattered on large ditched ‘avenue’ which may predate the top. Roughly half of the chamber the earthwork works and suggests the deposits were excavated and a quantity of possibility of an earlier phase to the complex. early Neolithic pottery was found in situ, In addition, occupation areas were identified including a whole pot. Tooth enamel in the valley including possible roundhouses, fragments were subsequently found in wet pits and enclosures which most likely . represent continuity of occupation from the the enclosure was also peppered with areas excavated in the s and s. hundreds of very small post-holes ( c. cm in Together, the surveys illustrate the variation diameter and typically – cm deep) whose in activities which existed within the function was not immediately apparent, Bagendon complex. In addition, there although they respected the locations of the appears to be a distinction between areas of buildings and, thus, appear to be occupation (along the valley) and areas contemporary. Very few finds were retrieved reserved for other purposes, presumably from the enclosure ditch, suggesting that it stock keeping or arable farming, on the was backfilled quickly and was perhaps used limestone plateau. The relationship between to hold upright posts. This square-ditched the enclosures, revealed in these surveys, and enclosure is of a type that John Blair has other linear features suggests, in particular, a associated with early Anglo-Saxon pagan possible emphasis on moving and corralling shrines referred to infrequently in written animals at the site. The elements revealed are sources of the seventh and eighth centuries, providing clearer appreciation of the although many of the examples known from development of the Bagendon complex and elsewhere were either identified only its possible role in Late Iron Age society. through survey or were excavated long ago. Combined with examination of the earlier Dating of the enclosure will depend on excavations this will provide a better detailed analysis of the little pottery appreciation of the site’s place in Iron Age recovered from the ditch, but it offers an society and in the changes which took place important possibility of verifying John Blair’s immediately before and after the Roman argument. conquest. K D L P • E W H Rachel Pope (L ) • Dawn Hadley The KDL Project examines the nature and Excavations directed by Dr Hadley and chronology of Bronze Age settlement and Dr Hugh Willmott (University of Sheffield) land use in the Cheviot uplands, as a training at West Halton have sought to elucidate the excavation for the Universities of Durham nature of Anglo-Saxon and medieval and Liverpool, with local volunteers from occupation on what is now the village green. the Northumberland and Coquetdale This occupation was focused on two Archaeology Groups. The landscape consists Bronze-Age barrows; one survives while the of cairns, house platforms, and field systems, other was flattened in the fourteenth century with later palisaded enclosures, cord rig, and to make way for a building. Earlier resistivity cross-ridge dykes. , sq m has been survey had identified a square-ditched surveyed using EDM and GPS. enclosure north of the barrow complex, and Excavation began on a decayed turf-walled limited excavation indicated that the ditch roundhouse, preliminarily dated to the Early was steep-sided and c. m in depth. In to Middle Bronze Age by a ‘napkin ring’ in the south-east quadrant of this enclosure, (cloak fastener) in the house wall. In , a number of early Anglo-Saxon buildings attention turned to the associated field were excavated, including three post-built system, trenches across field boundaries structures and a sunken-featured building. revealing five separate episodes of The base of the latter contained many animal construction, with test-pitting across the field bones, including a whole dog. The inside of plots to assess soil formation, and University. It is one of the largest community archaeology projects in the region. On site, work focused on further excavation of a terraced occupation area within one of the enclosures and the extension of the geophysical survey (magnetic gradiometry) that was very successful. The extent of the known field system around the enclosures was expanded into neighbouring fields – the Excavations at Kidlandlee Dean edges have yet to be reached. geochemical and micromorphological Post-excavation work commenced in the sampling to gain an idea of how the plots autumn. The volunteers produced copies of were used. all site drawings and work started on the In , excavation of the house platform ceramic assessment. The group is greatly was completed. Archaeomagnetic dating helped by Henrietta Quinnell, a renowned samples were taken from the Phase specialist in prehistoric ceramics, and Roger clay-lined hearth-pit and removal of the Taylor who provides petrological advice. Phase floor saw the ground plan of a Many of the sherds have carbonised residue primary stake-walled roundhouse revealed, adhering to their inner surfaces and we plan following painstaking excavation with to send eight sherds for AMS dating this teaspoons. Despite torrential rains – with the winter. The results of the ceramic assessment team trapped in Kidland Forest for three to date suggest the material at Mount Folly days, after flooding and landslides prevented originated in southern Britain, France, road access – work continued, with students Germany and Italy during the late Iron Age hiking to site tools in hand. and Romano-British periods. Through the KDL Project we are gaining an Post-excavation work is continuing and will understanding of later prehistoric use of proceed through the spring prior to further upland landscapes: why and how they were fieldwork and survey in . The project settled, whether occupation was permanent participants acknowledge with gratitude the or seasonal, and how this land use changed at help and support of the landowner, the end of the Bronze Age. Mr J. Tucker, the County Archaeologist and her team, and the Devon Archaeological M F E • Dr Eileen Society. Wilkes A Mount Folly, on the west coast of the South G , E Y • Peter Hams, consists of three articulated enclosures Halkon, David Starley and Peter Crew within an extensive field system, identified through aerial reconnaissance and In the early s, the Granthams of geophysical survey. In , six weeks of Driffield discovered a ‘currency bar’ at Hill fieldwork were followed by ongoing post- Farm, Gransmoor, during excavation of an excavation analysis. All elements of the embankment cross. Although the late Tony project are undertaken by volunteers Brewster attempted to publish it along with directed by Dr Wilkes of Bournemouth associated Iron Age finds, it remained with . The Gransmoor currency bar sampled (Photo: D. Starley) the Grantham’s heir Peter Makey until its alloy, suitable for a range of purposes. This true significance was recognised in . may leave open the possibility of local Although there is now evidence for a production, but by no means confirms it. flourishing Iron Age iron industry in the Many thanks to Peter Makey for the loan of Foulness Valley, this bar remains the only the bar and the interest he has shown. example in the region and one of the few from northern England. Currency bars, L A -S generally held to be forms of trade iron, C : E L , have distinctly regional distributions, with K , • Gabor Thomas about examples from Britain alone. The report summarises the second year of The bar’s find spot bar, east of the valley of open-area excavation within the precincts of the River Hull opposite Wetwang Slack the Anglo-Saxon monastery of Lyminge, with its iron-rich cart burials, is significant, reputedly founded ( ) by Æthelburga, and a furnace, possibly of Iron Age date, was daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent. This discovered further downstream at Thearne year’s trench took in a m window near Beverley in . sandwiched between the larger of last season’s excavation trenches and the After examination, the bar was analysed. southern boundary of the churchyard. The X-ray fluorescence showed small peaks of area, previously examined by a small-scale arsenic and phosphorus but not manganese. evaluation by the Canterbury Archaeological Metallography showed that the bar had been Trust, is located some m south of the crudely welded together and both pieces Anglo-Saxon monastic church excavated by may have come from the same Canon Jenkins in the s. heterogeneous bloom. Overall the alloy used was phosphoric iron although the core of The excavations produced a spectacularly Sample contained about . % carbon, just rich concentration of Middle Saxon enough to be classified as a steel. Sample occupation with more limited evidence for contained only about .% carbon, Saxo-Norman land-use. A sequence of major insufficient to allow hardening by and minor ditched boundaries has provided quenching. The Gransmoor currency bar key evidence for reconstructing the spatial was therefore typical; relatively little worked, organisation of the Middle Saxon settlement high in phosphorus, low in carbon iron and its evolving relationship to the monastic nucleus to the south. A spectrum of accumulations of digested fish bone and post-built timber buildings were recovered mineralised concretions, sampled extensively with distinctions in size and structural details for environmental and micromorphological denoting both domestic and agricultural uses; analysis. The excavations have enhanced the the former recall the diminutive ‘cells’ picture provided by the already extensive excavated at such Northumbrian parallels as Middle Saxon artefact/bioarchaeological Hartlepool. The occupation was peppered assemblages: notable finds included a folding with rock-cut pits (over fifty in total) some balance, imported Frankish pottery and many forming distinct concentrations; those examples of the bossed jars distinctive to East located within domestic compounds clearly Kent, metalworking crucibles and more served as latrines as indicated by dense window/vessel glass.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2010 C – April ‘Wales and the S M – July in West during the Bronze Age’ at Cardiff; for Pembrokeshire, led by Headley Swain details, see below (details with this mailing) S M – May in A D M (details to be Buckinghamshire, led by Mike Farley (details confirmed) with this mailing)
WALES AND THE WEST DURING THE BRONZE AGE: CHARACTER, COMPARISON AND CONTACTS, ‒ April at the National Museum, Cardiff There are still places available to attend this (or pro rata). A full speaker listing and non-residential conference, sponsored by the conference flier can be viewed at RAI, Cambrian Archaeological Association, www.royalarchaeolinst.org. For National Museum, Wales and Cadw. There bookings and further information, please will be twelve lectures over two days, with contact Caroline Raison, Meetings an optional reception and archaeology Organiser, , e-mail gallery viewing. Conference fee £ (£ [email protected] or by post to for one day) includes abstracts, tea & coffee. The Firs, , Main Street, Houghton-on-the Optional catering package (two lunches and Hill, Leicestershire, . wine reception/gallery viewing) £
155TH SUMMER MEETING ON ORKNEY, 4–11 JULY 2009 • Anne Holton-Krayenbuhl The Summer Meeting was based at the twentieth century, on the mainland as Stromness, in the south-west corner of well as on the islands of Rousay and Hoy. mainland Orkney. From there we visited The Orkney archipelago is on the periphery sites ranging in date from the Neolithic to of the modern world, but in the past, it has . played a more significant role, as we were to again; he hoped he had read the charts learn in the course of the week. The correctly. international importance of the Neolithic Sunday was warm and sunny and we started sites on Orkney was recognised in off with a walking tour of Stromness. Our when these gained UNESCO World guide explained how the town had Heritage Site status. developed in a somewhat haphazard way, as The Meeting started on Saturday, July, house plots with individual jetties were laid members having made their own way up to out along the shore. There appeared to be Stromness. Planning the journey had been a little standardisation so that the rear challenge in itself. There was a wide variety boundaries, now forming one side of the of routes and means of transport, all street, did not line up, but consisted of a involving at least one transfer, and causing a series of doglegs. Development of land on problem for a few of the air travellers whose the other side had been equally uneven and luggage failed to follow them to Kirkwall as a result, this street, roughly parallel to the airport. Many of us met up in the early shore, widened out and narrowed down in afternoon, in the departure lounge of the confusing fashion. We were taken along Scrabster to Stromness ferry. The sea mist alleyways running steeply uphill between that had formed halfway across the Pentland buildings that almost touched each other at Firth dispersed as we sailed past the Old eaves level. The morning ended with a visit Man of Hoy and then it was time to get to the Stromness Museum where exhibits on ready to disembark. Caroline Raison pointed the Hudson Bay Company, Arctic whaling out the Stromness Hotel, our base for the and the Pacific Islands illustrated the week. far-reaching contacts of Orkney in days when the archipelago was a major transit The hotel was a solid-looking grey stone point. building backing onto a steep slope. This explained the apparently odd internal In the afternoon we set off for Birsay and arrangements, with Reception on the first Gurness, with V & J Coaches who were to floor and access to the car park on the provide us with comfortable transport for the second. The dining-room on the first floor week. Kirsty Dingwall of Historic Scotland had French windows that led into the very was our guide for the afternoon; Historic steep garden, bordered with fuchsia bushes, Scotland stewards contributed to the guided a common feature in the local landscape. A tour at both sites, and would do so on other few members lodged at the nearby Harbour visits to Historic Scotland sites. Brough of View Cottage and at the Ferry Inn, even Birsay looked stunning in the bright closer to the ferry terminal than the sunshine which also brought out the salty Stromness Hotel, with associated noise and smell of dry seaweed. The distinction occasional roudiness at times of ferry arrivals between brough and broch was explained to or departures. Jonathan Coad, President, and us: the former referring to a naturally Hedley Swain, Meetings Secretary, already defended site, as at Birsay, the latter to a looked comfortably settled in as we arrived. fortified defensive structure, as we were to At dinner on the Saturday evening Hedley see at Gurness. The Brough of Birsay had welcomed us and warned of the daily been a high status site for both Picts and challenges ahead. Sunday’s would be to Norsemen and the principal seat of the earls cross over to the Brough of Birsay, a tidal of Orkney in the eleventh century, if not island, and return before the tide came in earlier. The evidence for this consisted of Within the Broch of Gurness (MO’B) earthworks; remains of a twelfth-century Neolithic monuments included in the church with claustral buildings were the only UNESCO World Heritage Site, and more. standing structures. We crossed the causeway Our first stop was the Neolithic settlement at back to the mainland to look at the ruined Skara Brae, on the west coast, and Ann palace of the sixteenth-century Earl Robert Marwick of Historic Scotland introduced the Stuart, illegitimate son of King James V of site. The tour of the site took us along the Scotland. Our attention was distracted by the roofs of the structures so that we looked arrival of a yellow minibus advertising on its down into these remarkable remains of stone sides ‘Haggis Adventures: Wild and Sexy’. Its chambers with stone furniture, central young clientele didn’t spend much time at hearths and linking passages. There was an the site. Then on to the Broch of Gurness intriguing exhibition in the Visitor Centre overlooking Eynhallow Sound. We walked including a bucket carved out of a whale through the maze of chambers built around vertebra, and a welcome cafeteria. We the central structure of the broch, the most continued on to the Loch of Stenness, complete known so far but gradually being stopping at Unstan cairn on the shore of the lost to the sea. The problem of coastal loch. The entrance passage leading into the erosion would be a recurrent theme during central chamber was low and narrow, and the week. In view of the unpromising Caroline controlled numbers going in and weather forecast, Hedley arranged a paddle coming out. From Unstan we could see the stop on a nearby beach. Ring of Brodgar and associated mounds As expected, Monday turned out grey, brought into clearer focus as the sun briefly windy and showery. We visited the illuminated these sites. The Brodgar car park . excavations, and we rushed back to the coach as it started to rain. We had barely arrived back at the hotel than it was time for dinner – a breathless end to a day spent visiting major prehistoric sites. Tuesday’s challenge was to reach Tingwall in time to catch the ferry to Rousay. The light drizzle felt increasingly wet as we waited for the ferry. We took shelter in the waiting room, providing us with the opportunity to read the notices informing us of the many local activities on the archipelago. The island of Rousay is roughly conical with a band of agricultural land along the coast, rising steeply to several peaks in a moorland landscape. The only road around the island Skara Brae (AB) marks the approximate boundary between the two types of vegetation. Julie Gibson, provided a fly-infested venue for our picnic County Archaeologist for Orkney, met us on lunch. the pier and explained the itinerary: we were to drive anticlockwise round the island, a Our guide for the afternoon was Jane distance of some thirteen miles, stopping en Downes of Orkney College. She showed us route to look at some of the numerous sites. round the Ring of Brodgar and explained the monument within its landscape, noting Towards midday the sun came out and we that it had much in common with stopped near Midhowe, on the south-west Stonehenge, not least the countless theories corner of the island and on the north shore for its interpretation. Evidence for a of Eynhallow Sound. The path from the settlement was being excavated nearby, the road down to the site was steep and some of trench also providing shelter for some sheep. the party preferred to opt out of this At Stenness, we saw another stone circle particular challenge. The corrugated iron with a smaller diameter but taller stones, the building housing the cairn provided some reconstructed Neolithic settlement at shelter from the wind as we ate our packed Barnhouse, and Maes Howe. This was an lunches, entertained by a family of seals imposing Neolithic mound with a large frolicking on the rocky shore. Inside the central chamber, visited by Norsemen in a building, raised platforms provided a good later age; they had left their mark in the general view of Midhowe chambered cairn, form of runic graffiti. We drove on to the a structure measuring over m in length Knowes of Trotty, a group of Bronze Age with compartments on either side. Julie mounds at the foot of a hill overlooking the explained the construction of the cairn Loch of Harray. The site was at some before we went on to the nearby broch, distance from the road and some of the party making a leap of some years in a few remained on the coach. We walked past minutes. The broch stands on a low cliff, its fields of sheep and cattle, and finally reached defences formerly complemented by two the site. As the sky turned blacker, Jane ditches running from broch to sea. We then hastily summarised the findings from recent walked towards Westness at a brisk pace – ferry timetables being kept in mind – and were shown sites formerly occupied by Norse settlers. There were two more stops on the way back to the ferry: a site being excavated on the beach, and the ‘double- decker’ tomb at Taversoe Tuick. Kirkwall was the focal point of Wednesday’s excursion, beginning with the grain earth house on a dreary industrial estate in the suburbs of Kirkwall. This was an underground structure with a narrow access that could only be visited by two people at a time. A gentle drizzle set in as we waited for our turn in the queue. Then on to the major sites in the town centre where the museum, the cathedral, and the palaces of earl and Inside Mine Howe (AB) bishop stand in a group either side of a comparatively busy road. Anne Brundle, Mine Howe is one of a group of mounds Curator of Archaeology, welcomed us to the either side of a quiet road, the entrance Tankerness House Museum, a sixteenth- being near the top of the mound. Once century building with displays of artefacts again we queued to get in, but as the party from the many important sites on the was smaller, it didn’t take so long. A vertical Orkney archipelago, including some fine shaft took us down into the mound, with a bone objects of Norse manufacture. We then ladder joining up with stone steps midway crossed the road to St Magnus Cathedral, a down. A narrow landing gave access to two small-scale version of more southerly horizontal passages, now closed, but these cathedrals and built of pink stone. Earl seemed to be the only features within the Rognvald had undertaken to build the mound. When we reached the bottom, there cathedral in honour of his uncle, Earl was nothing special to see, no chamber, and Magnus, if he gained the earldom, and not even a recess. Initially this was a construction started in . The roofless disappointment but we then wondered if it remains of the two palaces stand south of the was the journey into the earth (some twenty cathedral. That of the earl had been built in feet) that might have been the significant the seventeenth century for the Stewart element. Then back to the modern world. family, while the bishop’s palace had been The party regrouped in Kirkwall to visit the built in the twelfth. All that remained of the Highland Park Distillery on the outskirts of latter was the shell of an oblong range to the town. Whisky production was not in which had been added a corner tower in the progress at the time, so our guides described sixteenth century. the various stages of the process as we After lunch we had a choice. We could walked through silent and dust-free either visit Mine Howe some miles south of buildings. The cellars with variously aged Kirkwall, or stay in Kirkwall with shopping whisky casks and a general musty whisky opportunities for those who so wished. smell was the nearest we got to the actual Those who chose the first option discovered production process, apart from the tasting at a monument unlike anything seen so far. the end of the tour. . Thursday included a ferry crossing and was the Martello Tower and its adaptation from therefore another particularly challenging the fortified structure at Cape Mortella in day. We were on the road by a.m. We Corsica, which the British had taken after a stopped en route at Orphir, the site of one long siege in . We climbed steep of the manors of the Norse earls and the external stairs to the first-floor entrance to setting for Christmas feasts and other events the tower. The living quarters were on the recounted in the Orkneyinga Saga. All that first floor and we noted that they lay directly remains visible are the ruined apse of a above the powder magazine in the basement. round church in the corner of the modern The associated battery complex looked more cemetery and nearby earthworks, interpreted comfortable. as the remains of the Norse drinking-hall of The return crossing was distinctly rough, and the saga. The Norse connection was spray was flying onto the deck, but the wind underlined by the bilingual information was not strong enough to dispel the odours board. We crossed over to Hoy and drove to emanating from the dust-cart travelling back the cliffs at Rackwick on the west coast of to the mainland on the ferry. When we the island through a desolate landscape of returned to the hotel, we found Frank steep eroded hills covered in heather, with Horlbeck, a member for years, who had some peat diggings by the roadside. This was come over from Kirkwall to join us for the compensated by the interesting flora and bird evening. Still a keen photographer, but with life, examined at closer quarters on the walk less cumbersome equipment nowadays, he up to the Dwarfie Stane, a rare example of a took pictures of the group. We managed to Neolithic rock-cut tomb, in contrast with exchange news before the start of a musical the stone-built tombs visited elsewhere. The entertainment provided by the West interior of the tomb was small, with a short Mainland Strathspey and Reel Society – a entrance and two small side chambers. dozen or so instrumentalists playing Scottish Graffiti on the sides of the tomb included a music – followed by singing to which the line in Persian! RAI was invited to join, having been A brief stop at the Lyness Royal Naval provided with song sheets. Cemetery left us pensive. It also provided Friday’s itinerary took us along the north the introduction to the main theme of the coast of the mainland and south-east to day: the defence of Britain at and around South Ronaldsay. Once again, we drove past Scapa Flow, from Napoleonic times to the the World Heritage Site monuments around twentieth century, presented by Jonathan the Ring of Brodgar that had become a Coad in his usual clear and well-informed familiar feature of our journeys across the style. We stopped for lunch at the Lyness island. Caroline Wickham-Jones joined us Visitor Centre, one of the former base for the day; she described how the Orkney headquarters buildings, and saw photographs archipelago had once formed a single and exhibits of military material connected landmass that seems to have subsided quite with the defence of Britain in these northern suddenly, with dramatic consequences for its waters. In the afternoon we drove south-east inhabitants. Cuween Hill was our first stop, a to the nineteenth-century Martello Tower chambered tomb set on a hillside and battery at Hackness past green fields and overlooking the Bay of Firth. The chamber, habitation, and a solitary Art Deco foyer that a reduced version of that at Maes Howe was all that remained of a former cinema for with cells in the side walls, had yielded not the troops. Jonathan explained the origins of only human remains but also some twenty dog skulls possibly representing the tribal tomb without getting muddy. Seals totem. swimming in a dangerously rough-looking sea provided a rival attraction. It was also a We drove on to Burray and South Ronaldsay, islands at the eastern mouth of last chance for the bird-spotters in the group, Scapa Flow. They are now linked to the at the end of a week that had also been mainland by the three Churchill Barriers, rewarding from the ornithological point of built in World War II, to block the eastern view – arctic skua, eider duck, puffin and access to Scapa Flow; their potential for black guillemot were some of the more civilian use as a causeway made it legally exciting sightings. possible to complement the labour force We returned to Stromness mid-afternoon, with Italian prisoners-of-war, transported providing some free time before the here in following Allied military Conference Dinner which concluded with successes in North Africa. These prisoners- the presidential address; Jonathan summed up of-war also built the Italian Chapel on Lamb the highlights of the week and thanked all Holm at the south end of the first Barrier. those who had contributed to the smooth The chapel consists of two Nissen huts set running of the meeting; this included end to end, with a simply decorated façade, Richard Haes who had ensured that nobody but inside, it is a different world of Italian was left behind in some isolated spot, by exuberance, the work designed by assiduously counting us back on the coach Domenico Chiocchetti, a church decorator after each stop. Most of us then retired to in civilian life. the bar for a final sampling of the local We continued southward, stopping at Cairns whisky. The party dispersed on Saturday. to visit an excavation in progress. The site Some had already left before breakfast, while lay on a steep slope, with remains of a broch a large contingent departed on the mid- overlain by a sequence of occupational morning ferry. The remainder had an deposits. The team of young dynamic opportunity to visit the Pier Art Gallery archaeologists seemed unaffected by the cold opposite the hotel, with its well-displayed wind as they trowelled, removed stony spoil collection of modern art. or set up drawing frames. This had been an ‘extra’ on the programme, so we ate our In the course of six days we had looked at (last) packed lunch on the coach in order to monuments spanning a period of some reach Isbister on schedule. There we years, and benefited from the expert crowded into the Visitor Centre and heard knowledge of our various guides. The about the initial discovery of the ‘Tomb of remarkable density of sites on Orkney had the Eagles’, the name of the tomb deriving enabled us to spend a greater proportion of from the sea-eagles’ talons discovered among our time actually visiting sites rather than the human remains there. Perhaps this was sitting on the coach travelling from one site another totem creature, analogous to what to the next, and the ferry crossings provided had been observed at Cuween. We had a an additional dimension, enabling us to pleasant walk through farmland to the experience a mode of transport that had remains of a Bronze Age structure, and then played such an important role in the past. towards the cliffs at the top of which lay The gentle pace of life and unspoilt Isbister cairn (the ‘Tomb of the Eagles’), our landscape provided a refreshing change from final chambered tomb of the week. Matting the bustle and noise of southern Britain to on the ground enabled one to slide into the which many of us were returning. . AUTUMN DAY MEETING AT GREENWICH, SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER 2009 • Kathryn Stubbs
The Autumn meeting was spent in new markets in America meant that Greenwich Park. We met at the statue of improvements to navigation were essential General Wolfe next to the Royal for safe and speedy passages. The famous Observatory and the Greenwich meridian, Longitude Act of promised a prize to and although we never strayed far from the the first person to calculate longitude, and meridian, the meeting was wide ranging, many of the clocks built to attempt this, covering the early history, Romano-British including John Harrison’s H and his occupation, Anglo-Saxon burial ground, other sea clocks are on view in the Royal palaces and park, as well as current Observatory. proposals for the London Olympics. The Observatory, now called Flamsteed Our guides were Pieter van der Merwe of House, has been carefully restored and gives the National Maritime Museum, Anthony a good impression of the isolated living and Quiney and Hedley Swain. working conditions of Flamsteed and his was the International Year of successors. The main feature of the house is Astronomy, and The Royal Observatory was the large octagon room or Great Star Room, the focus of the morning. Greenwich is one designed to house the large telescopes and of the four World Heritage Sites in London, ‘year-going’ clocks built by Thomas inscribed as of universal significance by Tompion in , used by Flamsteed to UNESCO in . Standing on the great record observations and draw a map of the Greenwich fault line, a splendid view of the sky. To do this, a telescope was set up along Royal Naval Hospital, the Queens House, the meridian, the north–south line, the the river, City and central London is position of the stars was observed and obtained from the vantage point of the recorded and their movement measured terrace next to the Observatory and the against the meridian. A map was drawn by statue of General Wolfe. using these measurements and the clocks to measure the rotation of the earth. Commissioned by Charles II for the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, and It became clear that Wren’s Observatory was designed by Christopher Wren in –, not aligned exactly with the meridian, but the Royal Observatory is an unusual was slightly to the west due to its building as it was designed as a residence and construction on the foundations of an observatory. Greenwich was chosen for Greenwich Castle. A new positional the site of the observatory as the high observatory was built in the garden, the first ground within the park afforded a clear view of a series of buildings, now called the of the sky away from the light and air Meridian Building, to house new telescopes. pollution of London. At this time no The single storey observatory buildings have accurate map of the sky existed, and it was distinctive roof shutters which were opened thought that the calculation of longitude had each night for observations and they an astronomical answer. The importance of represent a unique insight into how the longitude to nautical navigation, trade and Observatory changed to accommodate new commerce cannot be underestimated. and improved telescopes. Today, this and a Reliance on sea trade, newly established complex of later buildings make up the trade routes and the importance of gaining Observatory. In ‒ , two pavilions were added to the The afternoon was spent looking at some of Wren building. The new Physical the other features of the Park. Greenwich Observatory begun in is now a Park appears at first sight to be familiar handsome cruciform building designed by landscaped seventeenth-century parkland, W. J. Neatby in with Doulton but on closer view an earlier and much terracotta decorations commemorating altered landscape is revealed. notable astronomers, scientists and Romano-British remains have been instrument makers. It was built with a identified at different times as a villa, a central diameter dome, to house a ˝ temple or shrine. Excavation has taken place refractor. The Altazimuth Pavilion of in , /, , / and by Time was extended in by the addition of a Team with the Museum of London and large distinctive dome, built to house a new Birkbeck College in . Evidence of refractor, the largest conventional structures including walls and surfaces, flue telescope in Britain at that time. The most tiles and inscriptions have been recorded and recent addition is the Peter Harris coins dating to between and Planetarium, by Allies and Morrison, recovered. The site is thought to be a completed in . Romano-Celtic temple owing to its location The Greenwich Time Ball was added to the on high ground close to a river, the high eastern turret of Flamsteed House in . It status finds and possible plan of the structure. drops from the top of the mast at pm each The site is marked by a small area of red day, a time signal clearly visible from the tessellated pavement, left exposed after surrounding area, and importantly, by excavations in , surrounded by railings navigators on ships on the river who used it and a small plaque. to calibrate the ships chronometer. The original meridian line and the three successive meridians, of Edmond Halley, James Bradley and George Biddell Airey are all marked; the last was recognised as the Universal Prime Meridian of the world in . The last meridianal observation was made in when the growth of London, smoke and light pollution obscuring the sky prompted the move of the observatory to Herstmonceaux. World time, formerly set at Greenwich is now set internationally and co-ordinated in Paris. The Royal Observatory has about one million visitors every year, and a recently completed £ million redevelopment and expansion project including exhibition redesign and reconfiguration of the site, has altered visitor routes and enabled greater public access to the buildings and collections. The work was partly supported by Heritage Lottery Funding. A Romano-Celtic temple? (CvonP) . The route of Watling Street from the Kent with new buildings by John Webb and coast to London is projected across the park, Wren became the Royal Naval Hospital. but its exact route is not known. From the Vanburgh succeeded Wren as Surveyor of higher ground of the park, it is easy to the Royal Naval Hospital and built his own imagine the vantage point of Greenwich, the house, Vanburgh Castle, just outside the view of Londinium in the distance and the Park. route of the road crossing the lower and The Royal Naval Hospital and Queen’s marshy areas towards the Thames. House with the observatory and the grand An Anglo Saxon barrow cemetery of axis are an outstanding formal composition approximately fifty-four mounds and of buildings and landscape taking advantage medieval ridge and furrow are visible in the of the river prospect and the steep rise of more open ground in the south of the park. land from the river. The view from and to the river is renowned and familiar from The royal connections dominate the paintings by Canaletto and Turner and the landscape since the confiscation of the collection of buildings and landscape Manor of Greenwich by Henry V from the represent Britain’s maritime importance. Abbot of Ghent in . The Park was enclosed with timber palings by Humphrey, At the south west of the park, a group of Duke of Gloucester in , who built a houses built in and on the edge of the park palace, Placentia. The palace was altered and were visited. Firstly, the bathhouse and walls enlarged by Henry VIII, who also are all that remain of Montague House, built introduced deer into the park. Greenwich in the s and occupied by Queen was favoured as it was on the river, had a Caroline. Demolished by George IV, in park for hunting, and was close to the naval , after her death, the house is more dockyards at Woolwich and Deptford. Elizabeth I took shelter under an oak tree which was standing until fifteen years ago; this and its successor, planted by one of her successors, can be seen. The Queen’s House, designed by Inigo Jones in the modern style of an Italian villa, was built for Anne of Denmark by James I, and completed for Queen Henrietta Maria in . Following the restoration, Charles II planned a new palace designed by Wren and Sir John Vanburgh, and conversion of the park into formal grounds, with a long north–south axis and radiating avenues of elm trees and sweet chestnuts. The lines of the avenues and some of the sweet chestnuts can still be seen. The Queen’s House, with its later additions and colonnades, is now part of the National Maritime Museum. William and Mary preferred Hampton Court for their residence and the Tudor palace Queen Caroline’s Bath (CvonP) renowned now for Caroline’s shocking Proposals to use the Park for the equestrian behaviour, the ‘tinsel and trumpery’ and pentalathon events of the London decoration and parties, famed for their Olympics are causing concerns and it is to be ‘pandemonium games’, than for architectural hoped that this can be achieved merit. Macartney House, built at the end of sympathetically and in keeping with the the seventeenth century, is well known as nationally important buildings, the sensitive one of Sir John Soane’s houses, as it was landscape and buried archaeology. enlarged to his design in –. The Lunch was taken at The Plume of Feathers, house was occupied by the family of General which is situated one second east of the James Wolfe who was an occasional resident meridian, the line of which is marked out in here. The garden is now part of the Park. the road and on nearby buildings. Thanks St Mary’s Lodge was designed by John Nash are due to Pieter van der Merwe of the in –, and is next to a new park National Maritime Museum, Anthony entrance made in . Ranger’s House was Quiney, Hedley Swain and Caroline Raison extended in the th century, principally for for leading and organising such an interesting the th Earl of Chesterfield. day.
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