Archman News On Line.

History of Society part Two.

THE HISTORY OF WORTHING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 1942 TO 1952

As the War continued it was ‘pleasing to report the Society has come through another year very well indeed’.

Once again summer excursions were held as near to home as possible, to ease the strain on transport. A trip to Horsham in 1942 took the members to the Parish Church of St Mary, the Museum and several other sites of local interest. On all the trips in 1942 the members were ‘fortunate in having the guidance of leaders familiar with the locality visited’ and at the Horsham Museum, they were given an interesting talk on the history of the Old Horsham Prison. The trips were very well attended during the year, which was ‘largely due to the expert knowledge and guidance of those local gentlemen who acted as leaders, and the Society is very much indebted to them for their kindly co-operation’.

In addition to the Society’s trips during the summer, the members were invited to attend lectures arranged by the Worthing Branch of the Historical Association, a ‘courtesy which has been much appreciated’, although neither the minutes or Annual Report state what the subjects of the lectures were, only that two were of particular interest and were given by a Sir Ronald (unable to read the surname – the Honourable Secretary has beautiful handwriting, but it is rather difficult to read, and the names were not mentioned in the Annual Report), and a Professor Niven.

1943 saw a variation of trips and lectures during the summer and for the two remaining years of the War, there were no trips at all. In 1943 Miss Margot Eates of the London Museum gave a lantern lecture entitled ‘The Present Rediscovers the Past’. She had also arranged a photographic exhibition of the same title at Worthing Museum. Miss Eates returned the following year to give another lecture, choosing this time as the subject of her talk ‘Archaeology and the Seeing Eye – the problem with Education’.

The Society was also honoured to be given an illustrated talk on Sutton Hoo, by Mr CW Phillips, who had been involved with the Sutton Hoo ship and its’ treasures. ‘It was a great privilege to listen to so accomplished a lecturer and the occasion will be remembered as a red-letter one by members who were present’.

Other interesting lectures during the War years were geared more towards archaeology. For example, in 1944 Dr A Wilson, who had already supervised several digs, gave a ‘very practical talk and demonstration on elementary archaeological methods’ under the title ‘A to Z of a Dig’. He also held an informal meeting in January 1945 especially for young people and those ‘anxious to learn more about practical archaeological work’. He explained methods of fieldwork, surveying and recording to a small but enthusiastic audience. Miss Eates was due to have given a lecture in 1943 on the ‘Place of Archaeology in the Post-War World’ but was unfortunately ill and unable to be present. And finally ‘Geology and Archaeology, with Special Reference to the Worthing District’ was a very interesting and ‘valuable’ lecture given by Mr EC Martin. ‘He impressed upon members the importance of watching all cuttings and new sections and reporting immediately any new geological evidence which might thus become revealed’.

A lecture given in 1943 by the President was of particular reference to the national situation. It was on the subject of the ‘Ancient Cities of North Africa’, dealing ‘particularly with those districts through which the victorious Eighth Army had passed so recently’.

No excavations organised by the Society took place during the War years, although during 1942 several members helped with the work still in progress on the Roman site at Poling. The Annual Report however does not state who was running the dig. The only other mention with regards to practical work, was that of small sherds of Roman pottery and bone having been found at Waterworks Lane, Broadwater, which was reported by scholars from the Worthing High School for Girls.

Coming now to the end of anything relevant to the War period is that during 1944 the Society reported the death of fourteen of its’ members. Four of those had been original members and three of those had been Presidents. These were Colonel EW Margesson (the Society’s first President); Mr AD Mackenzie (1925/26); and Sir A Smith-Woodward (1930/31); the fourth was Mr T Sheppard who had given the Inaugural Address at the founding of the Society. It was reported that a ‘Testimonial was being raised by a number of Yorkshire Societies on behalf of Mr Sheppard…who had recently retired on a comparatively small pension, from the curatorship of the Hull Museum…Mr Sheppard was one of the founders of this Society and had upon a number of occasions, lectured to our members – always without fees’. It was unanimously agreed to give #10 to his Testimonial.

After the successful meeting on practical archaeology for young people in January 1945, the possibility of undertaking fieldwork during 1946 ‘largely for the benefit of the young people’ had been discussed with Dr Wilson in April 1946. He turned out to be very enthusiastic about the project and decided that if Highdown were free for the summer, he would arrange a fortnight’s dig on the gateway to Highdown Camp. But the War was still causing problems. Owing to ‘rationing and other difficulties’, they would not have a camp, so the helpers would have to stay in the neighbourhood.

By May, the Society had still not heard from the National Trust and by the end of July the Ministry had not yet derequisitioned the site. There was also the worry that the Ministry may damage the site during the clearing operation. The matter was therefore referred to the Chief Inspector of the Ancient Monuments Department in the hope that they may take up the matter with the Ministry. At this point the excavations were abandoned for the season.

A letter was subsequently received from the Chief Inspector in August or September stating that Highdown ‘would not be ready for work this season’. At a meeting in November 1946, a letter from the National Trust was read: the Ministry of Works was ‘making arrangements for the reinstatement of this site to be given priority and for the work to be done under archaeological supervision’. Alderman Migeod was interested in ‘retaining for the benefit of future generations, evidence of military occupation’ on sites such as Highdown and Cissbury. A letter was then sent to the National Trust requesting the ‘works erected by the Forces should be allowed to stand’. Like today, it was felt that military buildings, etc should be preserved: ‘The Society is of the opinion that the military works are themselves of special interest as a historical memorial of the War’. The letter also stated that their removal might cause irreparable damage.

By April 1947 the ‘rehabilitation’ had commenced. Dr Wilson was supervising the work and he subsequently suggested the following: that a map be made by his students; as well as the gateway, a section of the main rampart which would be exposed during the works be examined; to examine the damaged southern end near the gateway; to examine the north rampart.

July 1947 saw the clearing of Highdown completed. During this work, a gun site cutting had revealed the building up of the rampart, Iron Age hearths were found near the gateway and at least two Saxon cremation burials with smashed urns and the skeleton of a six month old Saxon baby with a single bead. A full report was due to appear in a forthcoming volume of the Sussex Archaeological Collection.

Mr J Pull had completed excavations at Church Hill in Findon by June 1949 and was preparing to move to a site at Tolmere Farm which had been surveyed by Dr EC Curwen in 1927. Mr Pull put a trench through a ditch, proving it to be very shallow and found some flint implements and Iron Age pottery sherds. He also proved the earthwork to be more apparent than actual. A barrow further up the Hill was being opened (following the ‘strip’ method). By August 1949 the barrow revealed ‘no major internment, only fragments of cremated bone, a good specimen of a ‘Cissbury Cell’, about one hundred flint implements and fragments of pottery’. The barrow did not appear to have been disturbed. The dig was completed by November and the ‘band of enthusiastic volunteer workers were now anxious to open a flint mine’.

November 1950 saw Mr Pull and his band of enthusiastic workers back at Church Hill, working on a ‘Stone Age flint mine’. By the time of a meeting on 22^nd November, they had managed to dig down to eighteen feet and had found a deer-horn pick, two knives, antlers and a good shoulder-blade shovel. A second shaft was opened in the digging season of 1951 and further various tools and implements were found.

The more practical work that was undertaken by the Society, resulted in many more people becoming interested. Mr Pull therefore suggested that a series of lectures be held, similar to those as Brighton Technical College, the object being to ‘afford a certain amount of technical training’ to beginners, which would then build up a team of workers ‘willing and ready to undertake excavation work…without further training’. The subjects were to be: General introduction; Recognition of archaeological sites to include air photography; Excavation of site; Efficient recording and preparation of reports. The courses were arranged and were ‘most successful’. Many young people attended and were keen to get digging. This sounds familiar!

There was a problem in 1948 with unauthorised digging of archaeological sites within the Society’s area. A report in the Worthing Review told of a Romano British township that had been discovered at Mayfield Nurseries in Salvington. Excavations were carried out by a Dr HBA Ratcliffe Densham and a colleague Mr Frere,  resulting in finding sherds of pottery and other remains, which were then stored in Dr Densham’s house. Neither man had reported the matter to the Society ‘in whose area the remains had been found’. The Honourable Secretary then had an interview with Dr Densham who admitted he had also been digging at Hardham.

Another site, this time a Bronze Age cornfield in Steyning was discovered in 1949, but again it was not reported to the Society. A resolution was then passed: ‘The Committee of the Worthing Archaeological Society wishes to draw the attention of the Research Committee to the problems arising about control of excavations and disposal of finds in the various areas of Sussex’. But in August 1951, Mr Pull revisited a site at Cock Hill, an escarpment of the Downs between Black Patch and Harrow Hill, which he had previously noted as a possible excavation site. However on his arrival at Cock Hill, whom should he find but Dr Densham already digging there and he had made several finds of pottery and axes, etc. Dr Densham subsequently reported his finds to the Sussex Archaeological Research Committee, but again he did not report to the Society, and neither did the Research Committee.  The Research Committee regretted that Dr Densham had never reported his archaeological activities to the Society so that ‘some official record of them might be made’. Mr Pull undertook to see Dr Densham and to ‘suggest to him the desirability of him joining this Society, but he would have to report any further archaeological activities to the Society’.

It would appear that the Dr Densham Problem was solved by November 1951 when Mr Pull confirmed he had spoken with Dr Densham who was now ‘desirous of becoming a member of the Society’. Mr Pull promised Dr Densham that once excavations at Church Hill had finished, he and his workers would help Dr Densham with his excavations at Cock Hill, especially as he regarded the site as very important. The Society therefore agreed not to take any further action against Dr Densham.

With the War over, summer outings resumed in 1946. There were the usual visits to reasonably local churches, but in 1948 the members were lucky enough to visit the excavations at the flint mine  on Church Hill, under the guidance of Mr Pull. Unfortunately the Annual Report does not mention whether the members actually went into the mine.

A few trips went further afield; in 1949 the Society went to Guildford, visiting the Museum and Castle, the seventeenth century Hospital of Blessed Trinity and the Ancient Royal Grammar School and in 1950 they went to Knole House in Sevenoaks.

There was of course, a good selection of lectures during the winter months, but one can not normally judge what a lecture will be like by the title alone. Therefore I am sure that ‘A Search for Oil in Sussex’ by a vicar was fascinating, as was ‘the Painted Chamber of Robert de Thorpe’ (it is a unique medieval apartment near Peterborough).

The lecture in October 1947 was entitled ‘the Beginnings of History’ and uniquely was held in the Court Room of the Town Hall. This was because the lecture was ‘an innovation in the form of a sound film’.

At previous Annual Suppers either a talk was given, or members could bring items of interest to be discussed. In 1947 however, the Society decided to hold a Quiz, which seems like fun. Perhaps we could hold quizzes now, maybe charging an entrance fee to raise funds for the Society. They held further quizzes in 1948 and 1949.

The Annual Report for 1943 told ‘with much gratification’ of the fact that Councillor ER Willoughby, who joined the Society in 1934 and was a committee member, was chosen to ‘fill the Mayoralty of this town’, and in 1950 Mr Migeod’s booklet on the history of Cissbury had gone to press. But it was not only members who were doing well for themselves. In November 1949 it was reported that ‘the Council of Archaeology now recognised the Worthing Archaeological Society to be of National Standing and was thus entitled to send two members to the main Council’.

A Late Bronze Age hoard was discovered in 1946 on agricultural land in Cokeham. It consisted of fifteen axes and portions of a very damaged and fragmented metal cauldron, which was submitted to the British Museum for advice as to the possibility of restoration. However it’s condition was too ‘imperfect’ for satisfactory restoration, although the rim and handles were cleaned.

The Society has always been keen on the preservation of old buildings in Worthing. The next property in line for demolition in 1948 was Beach House. The Society believed it should be ‘retained and repaired and put into useful service’, perhaps for educational bodies. The President was to attend the inquiry in November.

Membership had increased considerably by 1951 (430 members) and the question was raised as to whether membership numbers should be limited, ‘in view of the increasing size of the attendance both at the summer outings and the winter lectures’. The Committee however, were not in favour, but agreed that the matter should be placed on the agenda to be discussed at the Committee meeting prior to the next Annual General Meeting. At this meeting after a lengthy discussion it was ‘decided not to impose a limitation’.

Finally, during a meeting in March 1951, the Chairman announced the death of Dr Eliot Curwen. ‘The members stood in memory of Dr Curwen and his work for archaeology’.