.

Thursday 21 April 2016

West Essex Archaeological Group. Events

 SUMMER EVENTS

WEST ESSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL GROUP

Monday 9th May
Rudge Memorial Lecture: ‘The Thames at War’, illustrated talk by Gustav Milne, Museum of London Archaeology, 7.45 p.m., School Hall, Woodford County High School, High Road, Woodford Green.  Free entry and refreshments.

16 – 17; 23 – 24; and 30 – 31 July: Excavation Taster Weekends  at Copped Hall near Epping, aimed at complete beginners.  For more information and bookings, visit www.weag.org.uk


13 – 17 and 27 -31 August: Five-Day Field Schools, ongoing excavation of Tudor grand-house at Copped Hall, near Epping.  For full details and bookings , visit www.weag.org.uk

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Gaps in 'Current Archaeology'? We can help.

Current Archaeology.  We have received a complete run of Current Archaeology from #1 to #302 (May 2015) which we do not need for our Library.  Do you have gaps on your bookshelf or does your archaeological or historical institute, university or group have the same problem?  Each item only 30p + P&P.  Contact us.  We might be be able to help.

Monday 18 April 2016

Newsletter (Spring 2016)

The Spring 2016 edition of the Newsletter (NL177) arrived through the post for many members of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History on Saturday.  Readers will immediately notice that the front cover is different, illustrating six Roman coins which were stolen from Chelmsford Museum in January 2016 and remain, alas, unrecovered.  Why someone would steal these is a question that does not warrant comment, other than to reflect what the curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge said in response to the jailing of the gang responsible that the Chinese artefacts, not found, belonged in a sense to everyone.  

The Newsletter is another 24-page edition, the contents of which include:
- From The President.  Adrian Corder-Birch mentions that 'Excavations along the M25', occasional paper is available to members with additional copies on sale to the public; the work of Philip Crummy and Colchester Archaeological Trust in connection with the Fenwick Treasure, now on display at Colchester Museum, and excavations of the Roman arcade in the High Street; and, the forthcoming Annual General Meeting to be held at the Castle. (Papers will be circulated separately.)
- Coins Stolen from Chelmsford Museum
- Heritage Crime Investigation Rumbles a Dutch Deception
- A Vengeful Saint
- Essex Utopias?
- Society Visit to Jaywick Martello Tower, 26 February 2016
- John Booth, Essex Antiquary - a postscript
- Roman Arcade Attracts A Crowd
- Harlow Temple Digitisation Project: an update
- Excavations at Pleshey
- Henry VIII's Jericho?
- Major Brinson's Italian Excavations
- Eddington Engineering in Chelmsford
- Archaeologists explore Envrironment Agency's LIDAR
- The Society Archives: The Sellers give us the Sixties
- ESAH Finds New Home for Pottery Fragments
- Essex Churches Project
- Essex seen from Elsewhere
- Library Purchases and Donations
- Vernacular Architecture
- The Meaning of Mucking
- Events In Essex
- Readers Letters
- Essex Journal
- Book Reviews

Sunday 17 April 2016

Some Essex Closing-Rings 8

Concluding the series of photographs presented to the Revd. G Montagu Benton by Fred Brand in 1935 of Essex closing-rings on church doors, these examples come from White Roding (White Roothing), Widdington and Witham.





Tuesday 12 April 2016

The Hyde, Ingatestone: Eulogy For A Country House School

The Hyde, Ingatestone, was the seat of John Disney the first President of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History.  During the twentieth century until gutted by fire it was a school.

EULOGY FOR A COUNTRY HOUSE SCHOOL

From David Archer Wright:

Discovering this article and other references to The Hyde Ingatestone, immediately evoked suppressed memories of long past familiarities.

As country houses go, The Hyde, although by no means architecturally outstanding, was certainly a property worth cataloguing. The splendidly re-structured Palladium style great hall with finely turned Tuscan columns and grand sweeping staircase, even during latter day school use, was impressively adorned with fascinatingly complementing period artefacts:  time dulled oil paintings in ornate guilt frames, dusty doe eyed stag's heads, stuffed owls in glass domes and a fine eighteenth century long case clock.

As a pupil spending my formative years here, I also recall the rows of servants' bells in the lengthy corridor leading between lofty kitchens and wood panelled dining room, summoning past eras of wealthier times. 

Privileged highlights amidst the dull chalk dusted lessons were officially escorted introductions to the dizzying heights of the rooftop balustrades or the dark dank depths of the cellars. In the stable block heavy archaic accumulators were clues to an earlier, more prosaic source of electricity.

Most exciting of all was a secret room entered by way of an opening bookcase, its subtly hinged shelves lined from floor to ceiling with false leather bound first editions. The wide oak floorboards in front of the books maintained a highly lustred finish with the enthusiastic aid of fleet footed boys organised into skating parties, fiercely sliding up and down in outsized football socks. In a room on the third floor (no doubt out of bounds) silent stacks of redundant cast iron bedsteads remained as inherited evidence of the house's use as a military hospital during WWI. 

The date 1719 is for some reason embossed on my memory as surely as it was on the cast iron tops of guttering down pipes beside certain bricked up windows.

As a school, typical 'Basil Fawltyesque' ideology was nurtured from an early age; high moral values indoctrinating tender young minds. We were systematically encouraged to feel pride in being British: superior.  Psychology was a load of tommy rot.  Anyone speaking with a regional accent was a yob. Break times in the shrubbery provided initiation and intensive instruction into the extra curricula activities of fighting smoking and bullying.

The greatest tribute payable to the Hyde School, its highest possible accolade, most praiseworthy of progenies and ultimate achievement, is the fact that it was burnt down. It bequeaths a legacy of ploughed up arable fields.

Sunday 10 April 2016

Some Essex Closing-Rings 7

Continuing the series of Essex Closing-Rings photographed by Fred Brand in the 1930s. These examples are from the churches at Takeley, Terling, West Hanningfield and Wethersfield.





Tuesday 5 April 2016

Zepfest Film Presentation: Friday 8 April 2016

Zepfest

The forced landing of the German Zeppelin L33 at 1.20am on 24 September 1916 at Little Wigborough is commemorated by Zepfest (http://www.zepfest.net/#home ), now National Trust property, on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September 2016.  Tickets for the main event go on sale in due course. 

In the meantime, on Friday 8 April 2016 starting at 7.30pm at Abbotts Hall Meeting Room, Great Wigborough, CO5 7RZ, there will be a film presentation. For more see http://winstred100.org/2016/03/zepfest-film-presentation/


Sunday 3 April 2016

Some Essex Closing-Rings 6

The Essex Society for Archaeology and History continues the online publication of Fred Brand's photographs of Essex church door closing rings from the 1930s, which has recently been received and assigned reference S/LIB/9/51 in the archives.

These examples are from Southchurch, South Hanningfield and Stock.




Saturday 2 April 2016

London Museum of Water and Steam, Brentford


This item may be of interest to members of the Essex Industrial Archaeology Group:

"I am contacting you from the London Museum of Water and Steam in Brentford, home to the largest collection of water pumping engines in the world. With a collection of seven working water pumping engines including the world largest steam powered engine in operation we are a truly unique site.


"The London Museum of Water and Steam welcomes groups every year from all over Britain and indeed the world. We are able to offer a discounted rate to visiting groups, and in order to qualify for our discounted rate groups must consist of 10 visitors or more.

"Self-led group visit:  £7.50 per person

"Guided tour:  £8.50 per person

"Anna Chrystal
Education and Outreach Officer

London Museum of Water and Steam
Green Dragon Lane
Brentford
TW8 0EN