THE EASTBOURNE NATURAL HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Founded 1867 SUMMER NEWSLETTER No 91 June 2017 Patricia Mary “Pat” Stevens 24 Nov 1939 - 24 May 2017 EASTBOURNE NATURAL HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Founded 1867 President: Olive Woodall ENHAS Chairman and Greg Chuter County Archaeologist County Hall St Anne's Crescent Lewes BN7 1UE Tel: 01273 336177 Mob: 07500123634 [email protected] Hon. Treasurer & Membership Secretary John Warren 49 Prideaux Rd Eastbourne BN21 2NE Tel: 01323 731792 [email protected] Hon. Secretary & Newsletter Editor Helen Warren (same contact details as John Warren) Committee members: Corinne Betts, Eva and Steve Corbett, Rob Davies, Ian Ferguson, Sheila Love, Alison Selmes, Lawrence Stevens, Bob Williams, A Message from the Editor We will all miss Pat in so many ways. Everyone has their own memories, read some and a tribute to Pat on pages 4 and 5. Lawrence, and daughter Cecilia, thank you for your support at this sad time. We are delighted to welcome Ian Ferguson as Archaeological Projects Manager, Bob Williams as Projects Coordinator, plus Steve and Eva Corbett, onto the committee. It is planned to run more activities, research and training in the future, starting with the ENHAS Butts Brow dig in July. See page 12 for more details. Please note that from September our monthly speaker meetings will take place on the third Friday of the month. On 15th Sep Chris Greatorex and Greg will be talking about Butts Brow. Tea, coffee, cake and biscuits will be served after the meeting so do stay for a chat and a cuppa although we have to be cleared up and out by 10.00pm! Copy date for the next Newsletter is 1 September - happy to receive any reports, news or pictures. Helen Warren Hon. Secretary and Newsletter Editor .Chairman's Report 2016 - 17 It has been another active year for the society. In July we held our 3rd Symposium which focused on the Eastbourne Urban Medieval Excavation Project. It was a successful day with speakers telling us about different aspects of the 1970’s Church Street excavation and the ancient buildings in this part of Old Town. Last year we listened to a fascinating programme of lectures, including Tim Allen on the excavations at Crane Down, Jevington, John Skelton on excavations at Hog Croft Field Ovingdean, Rob Wallace and David Millum from the Culver Farm Project, Tom Dommett from the National Trust telling about the Seven Sisters Archaeological Project and Matt Pope with a talk entitled "Exploring Ice Age Islands" featuring Jersey but explaining far more. The Christmas Meeting as usual, was three short talks presented by ENHAS members. In January I talked about about the archaeology of Malling Down, Lewes, and was delighted that in the audience was the “schoolboy” who had first discovered some human bones at Malling Down in the 1970s! Under the organisation of Ian Ferguson and Bob Williams new site projects for 2017 are already underway with test pits dug in gardens in Pevensey and research being done on Manxey, a lost village and monastic site on the Pevensey Levels. ENHAS members also participated in excavations at Belle Tout and Butts Brow. This summer it is planned to dig three trenches at Butts Brow, this will be an ENHAS organised dig and will include training in surveying, artefact identification and artefact illustration. I would like to thank: The 2016/17 committee, who have worked extremely hard behind the scenes to organise the events, members and Newsletters that keep this society going. Thank you also to non-committee members such as Steve who each month sets up the equipment for the lectures with no fuss and more importantly no technical difficulties. Also Roland Jenkins who acts as Scrutineer of the Societies accounts. On behalf of the committee and the members, I thank our President Olive Woodhall for her continued support. Lastly we remember our late Vice President Pat Stevens who was an integral part of the infrastructure of the society. Greg Chuter, ENHAS Chairman Remembering Pat I first met Pat when I was about 10 and dug at the Eastbourne Urban Medieval Project. As a teenager I have fond memories of Pat showing me how to record animal bones at the Towner Museum, although I found bones very interesting, I got easily distracted by rebuilding a huge Bronze Age pot we found in the museum collection. Pat was a cheery, energetic lady who always made you feel welcome, and had a wealth of knowledge on many subjects. She will be greatly missed. Greg Chuter MA, MCIFA County Archaeologist I have only known Pat for around 8 years but in that time I saw her many and varied talents. Her skills with identifying animal bones were well known and appreciated by many in the archaeological world and her dedication to conservation at Polegate Windmill is quite literally recorded in the very structure of that wonderful building and the legacy that this gives us. Our cats and chickens have been very pleased to have benefited from Pat’s sage advice on animal feeds and toys. And personally I have benefited from having Pat as a colleague, advisor, volunteer and I hope, most importantly, friend. Jo Seaman Heritage Eastbourne A much respected and loved local historian. It was Pat’s energetic and no-nonsense approach that got me involved in local history back in the 1970s when I dug with her and Lawrence on the Jesus House Excavations opposite St Mary’s Church in Eastbourne. Kevin Gordon Local historian Although I have not know Pat for long, I was always struck by the way Pat was always so competent and confident; she seemed to know what to do when something went wrong, and how to fix it - always retaining her sense of humour. She had so much energy and interest in the world around her, and she is going to be sorely missed by all at ENHAS - a remarkable lady. Val Kemp ENHAS member I first really met Pat at the St Anne’s Road dig in the ECAT grounds. I took our 10-year-old son Tim, and he was fascinated. He asked me if he could help, so I suggested going over and offering to empty a bucket where Pat was excavating a skeleton. She grabbed his hand, pulled him down to kneel beside her, and put a trowel in his hand. By evening he was hooked, having excavated the bones, a spear, shield boss, and knife! She was wonderful, and it was something I have never forgotten, neither has Tim. John Warren ENHAS Treasurer and Membership Secretary A Tribute to Patricia Mary “Pat” Stevens Pat was born in St Albans on 7 October 1939. Her introduction to archaeology was early – as a child she would take herself to sit on the edge of trenches being dug by Sir Mortimer Wheeler who from time to time would give her pottery sherds which she took and saved on her windowsill. After leaving school at 15 Pat went to work at the Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City. She later commenced nurse training; leaving Hertfordshire to complete her studies at the local hospital in Eastbourne in around 1958. This is when she met Lawrence and found they had many shared interests. They married in 1963 at St Saviours Church on a very snowy day and some well-known local names including Richard Gilbert and Vera Hodsell attended. The couple went on to have one child, Cecilia, in 1964, who assisted them with their local endeavours. Pat opted to run her own business and stopped nursing when Highland Lodge closed down. She set up a printing business and was the first person locally to use an offset litho printer – she produced many pamphlets and reports on local history. In 1962 Patricia was one of the founder members of the Eastbourne and District Preservation Society. The need to preserve Polegate Windmill was identified and Lawrence was successful in stopping a planning application for demolition. The mill was officially opened to the public in 1967 by the Duke of Devonshire. In about 1966 Pat had her first excavation on Pashley Down. This identified an 18th century post mill. Other excavations followed and later she took an extra-mural course in Field Archaeology at the University of London moving on to specialise in animal bones, studying with renowned zooarchaeologist Professor Tony Legge. The next year she and Lawrence led the Bourne Valley excavations in Eastbourne. The couple have worked on excavations together since the 1960s, including on many windmill sites, Michelham Priory, Church St, Old Town and St Annes Hill. Together they had became champions of archaeology in Eastbourne. Now professional archaeologists Mike Allen, Greg Chuter and Chris Greatorex, along with numerous other volunteers, had their earliest experiences of excavation with the Stevens’. Pat continued with various research projects some of which have been published or presented as talks in association with Lawrence. The protection of the old artifacts from the Towner was successfully achieved with a great deal of assistance from Pat . There was the purchase of some Southdown sheep, a rare breed at this time, and the recruiting of a ram called Bartie (even his name has local historical significance – Bartholomew de Badelsmere being the 14th Century Lord of the Manor of Eastbourne) soon the sheep became a flock! Pat continued to raise her sheep, run her yellow jeep and her shop in Old Town until she was taken ill. She was known locally for her involvement in archaeology, local history and the preservation of Polegate Windmill and was Vice President, a life time member and mainstay of ENHAS.