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
22nd 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’.
