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Archaeology in Marlowwww.archaeologyinmarlow.org.uk

Volume 16 Issue No: 2 April 2017

AiM’s Forthcoming Events

NEWSLETTER

Thursday 25th May at 8pm'Marlow and the River Trade' A talk by JulianHunt

Julian will take us back to a time when the cornand paper mills thrived and copper was rolledinto sheet to protect the bottoms of English warships. He will show how improvements in water-way technology increased the capacity of theRiver Thames to bring in raw materials and ex-port products to London and beyond.

Garden Room, Liston Hall, Chapel Street, MarlowSL7 1DDAIM Members £3, non-members £4.50

Thursday 27th April at 8pm‘Reluctant Recruits: Conscription in Marlow in the First WorldWar’ A talk by Andy Ford, AIM member, and Chairman of MarlowRemembers World War I Group.

In 1916 the Government introduced conscription to boost the flag-ging number of recruits to the Army. Over 160 men from Marlowand the surrounding area appealed against being conscripted. Us-ing newspaper reports from the time, Andy tells the story of thesemen – why they appealed and what happened to them.

Garden Room, Liston Hall, Chapel Street, Marlow SL7 1DDMembers £3, non-members £4.50

Free parking is available in the adjacent car park after 7 pm.

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AiM’s Events at a Glance

We would like to wish a warmwelcome to Marcus and Peter

Boon, the latest members to joinAiM.

Hunt’s of Marlow

For First ClassDIY, Hardware andGarden Supplies

35 Station Road, MarlowTel 01628 488228

Notice of AGM

This is to give members notice that the Annual General Meeting of Archaeology in Marlowwill be held in the Garden Room, Liston Hall on Thursday 22 June at 8 p.m., preceding a talk(subject yet to be decided).

You are invited, not only to attend the meeting, but also to stand for election to the commit-tee and to propose motions for the meeting.

Please note that motions for debate must be proposed in writing by a member and secondedby three other members. Members wishing to stand for election must be proposed and sec-onded by two other members of AIM. Nominations for election to the Committee and mo-tions for debate should be received by the Chairman at least 21 days before the AGM.

Nomination forms and Motion for debate forms can be requested from the Chairman (seeback page for details)

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Joining the DotsEliza Alqassar, MA MCIFA

This was a joint AIM/MAS talk, well attended by40+ people on 23rd February. The speaker is theArchaeology Officer for the Bucks County Coun-cil and the team oversees all the pre-development investigations, about 30 eachyear, in the county. She has a special interest inthe late Iron Age – Romano British landscapearound Aylesbury. This is a well-watered, agri-culturally rich area, good for growing food andraising animals.

Many pre-planning surveys have unearthed awealth of evidence for settlements from thisperiod. It is probable that the SW – NE route ofthe Icknield Way, running in line with the Chil-tern escarpment, predates Roman occupation.The major Roman roads which connect Londonto important towns and cities are known butmuch of the local system remains uncertain.Akeman Street ran through the Aylesbury area,following the line of today’s A41; Watling Streetwas further north.

Excavations over the last few years have uncov-ered many local communities and settlements,pre Roman and Roman trackways, enclosuresand burials all around the area we now call

Aylesbury. Most recent surveys have yet to bewritten up and published. Roman plots are usu-ally sited each side of and at 90° angle to a trackor road but many sites exhibit a NW – SE align-ment rather than the usual Roman layout.Many areas show that occupation lasted 100 –300 years with new roads, tracks and enclo-sures being constructed as time passed.

Iron Age round houses have been identified,one of which was adjacent to a raised rectangu-lar storage building, probably used for grain.Burials date from early Roman to 7th centurySaxon and in one a rare cosmetic pestle wasfound, but generally grave goods are few.When the A41 bypass was being constructed anobvious NW – SE trackway, crossing the LowerIcknield Way was discovered lining up withother existing minor routes crossing the Chil-tern Hills.

Excavations at New Road, Weston Turville,found a trackway, enclosure, a round house andmore than 2500 pottery sherds. At StocklakeRoad, Aylesbury, a trackway was uncoveredwith more than 370 pottery sherds from theIron Age through to the C4th. At Fleet Marston,metal detectorists have found a lead sarcopha-gus and other possibly Roman military itemsclose to the route of Akeman Street. At Hamp-den Fields, by the current Aylesbury to WestonTurville Road, a 2012 investigation found aC2nd – C4th villa or farmstead with storagebuildings, locally made pottery and anotherprehistoric NW – SE aligned track.

Work at Dinton produced a high status villa sitewith an unusual assembly of small animal skele-tons, an apsidal stone wall, painted wall plas-ter, good pottery and food remains of scallop,oyster and mussel shells.

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April’s Quiz Question

What did Alice Boules, Thomas Lane and Tho Smithhave in common in the 1600s as Marlow people?

Prize for the AIM member with the first correct answers - Two tickets toany AIM talk. Email or phone your answer to Ann Pitwell

(see back page for contact details).

On the Aylesbury to Aston Clinton Road, fourRomano British settlements were evident. AtWoodlands stone walls, tesserae, roof tiles andanimal bones were found. Near-by at the Arlasite was an Iron-Age enclosure with croptrenches and a Roman settlement with goodstorage jars and 12 burials, 3 of which were de-capitations. A 2014 survey in the Bierton/Broughton area had a similar spread of finds. Amalting house and evidence of beer productionhas been found by Akeman Street at WeedonHill.

A survey near Stoke Mandeville found a majorsquare enclosure with possible military links.

This site, possibly connected with stock controlof horses, also revealed remains of cattle anddogs, with storage areas, hob nails and tools.

In 2015 a metal detectorist at a rally nearWhitchurch reported a Roman casket burial, anuncommon find in Bucks. Cremation remainshad been placed in a wooden casket with foodand drink.

A copper alloy jug handle, richly decorated withthree people at an altar, one with a dagger andan intaglio depicting Minerva and Mercury sug-gest this was a wealthy woman’s remains. Adish, a lamp, a copper alloy vessel and cupswere also originally present with the casket.

The varying alignments and the abundance ofperiod finds suggest this whole area was devel-oped and settlements connected and workingtogether for many centuries. What more willbe found? This was a very informative, well-illustrated talk.

Gerry Platten

Aston Clinton,copyright Mike Farley

Joining the DotsEliza Alqassar, MA MCIFA (cont)

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The February Quiz Questions were -In which decade did Daniel Defoe journey, before publishing the account of his ‘Tour

through the whole island of Great Britain’?&

What were the products from the hills in the locality of Marlow that particularlyimpressed him?

Although the word ‘hills’, above, should have read ‘mills’, the products that impressed Daniel De-foe in the locality of Marlow ‘in the hills’ were Beech Trees. The first person to submit this answer

and the right decade (1720), was Barbara Wallis, who wins Two tickets to any AIM talk.Apologies for any confusion caused by the misreading of our Quiz Setter’s writing.

February’s Quiz Answer

Marlow Market

Dean Street Car Park, Marlow - Every Wednesday, 8.00am - 3.00pm.

A small friendly market offering top quality cut flowers, a full floristry service,a large selection of herbaceous plants and all seasonal plants.

Large quantities of English and Foreign fruits and vegetables, with discounts for bulk orders.

Fresh eggs, pet foods, peanuts and wild bird foods.

Fresh fish from Grimsby (until 12.00)

Woodland Archaeology Course

During the weekend of 4-5th March, three members of AIM (Andy Ford, Beverley Howard andMartin Fowkes) attended a course on Woodland Archaeology run by John Morris of the ChilternsWoodland Project.

The course took place at Pigotts Wood, a few miles north ofHughenden. John gave us a fascinating talk on the history ofwoodland management and told us what sort of features tolook for, particularly in the Chilterns. Well-fortified by soupand coffee we then set off into the rain and mud to seemany examples of these features in the surrounding wood.

Having received our expert tuition we then explored thewoods ourselves in the afternoon, trying to find as many fea-tures as we could. The photo shows Beverley (on the right)with two other course members during this exercise. We allthought the course was very useful as well as enjoyable. We are now better informed as to whatwe may find at Warren Wood or any other woods we may investigate.

Martin Fowkes (Field Work Co-ordinator)

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The Cathars

For those who think religions have a totally be-nign effect on the world, read on!

Around 1140AD, migrants, originally from theBalkans, moved to south-western France. Thesepeople lived in the Languedoc, along the Frenchside of the eastern Pyrennes, from Toulouse inthe west, but centred in Albi, north of Carcas-sonne.

They called themselves Cathars (pronouncedKataars) from the Greek word Kathoros mean-ing pure. They lived in small towns and villagesand were mostly farmers, although Catharscame from all classes. Cathars were deeply reli-gious and strongly disapproved of the CatholicChurch’s lavish, luxurious and corrupt ways,prevalent at that time. They spoke the Langued’oc (Languedoc), as opposed to the Langued’oil of northern France (similar to modernFrench).

The Cathars believed in poverty, charity andlove. Their Priests, (men and women) were celi-bate, always wore black, existed only uponcharity, elected their own Bishops, fasted fre-quently and existed on a vegan diet.Believers were called croyants and they re-ferred to themselves as bons hommes (bothmen and women). When Cathars were near todeath, often from starving themselves to death,they could become Parfaits (perfects).

They believed that two Gods ruled all creation,one good, one evil. The evil God promoted thematerial world, including human life, whereasthe good God promoted the unseen divine andspiritual world. The Cathars were against organ-ised religion, the mass, marriage, the old testa-ment, the priesthood, prayers for the dead andburial in consecrated ground.They also refused to pay tithes and rejected thecrown, the state and the Catholic Church. The

Count of Toulouse (Raymond VI), meanwhile,arranged an alliance with Pedro II, King ofAragon, who already controlled parts of France.So far so good!

Funnily enough, neither the King of France(Phillipe Auguste), nor the Pope (Innocent III),were too keen on the Cathars. In 1198 the Popedespatched envoys and preachers to counteractand contradict the Cathar heresy. Raymond VIwas excommunicated at this time.

In 1204 the Pope and the King of France joinforces! 5 years later they launch a 40 day Al-bigensian crusade against the Cathars. Simonde Montfort the Elder leads the crusade, whichhas two papal decrees. Firstly, all land is to beconfiscated and given to the victors and sec-ondly, all sins/crimes committed by crusadingtroops during the 40 day period, will be par-doned, in advance! It took a little longer than 40days!

1209 Beziers on the plain – 20,000 people(mostly Catholics) killed by the crusaders1209 Carcassonne – Attacked and taken1210 Minerve – Attacked, 180 people burnedalive1211 Toulouse – under siege; massacres atMoissac and Muret1215 Toulouse – falls to Louis VIII (the Dauphin)1217 Toulouse – retaken by Raymond VI1218 Toulouse – under siege again1226 Toulouse – Louis VIII accepts surrender ofthe town1229 Meaux – Treaty signed by Raymond VII toofficially end the Albigensian crusade

The 40 day crusade had now taken 20 years,but was not over yet. From 1229 to 1250, theCatholic Church set up an inquisition at Tou-louse to extract confessions from Cathars. Re-maining Cathars withdrew to impregnable for-

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9 Dean Street, Marlow,Bucks, SL7 3AA.Tel. 01628 477020

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tresses built on rocky outcrops in the Pyreneanfoothills; Montsegur, Peyrepertuse, Tarascon,Queribus (see photo) and others.

Chateau de Montgailhard was besieged in 1242,1243 and 1244. At Montsegur 205 Cathars re-fused to recant and were burnt alive.

At Tarascon 100s of Cathars hid, but werewalled in by troops and starved to death. Queri-bus surrendered in 1255 and Foix castle wastaken by King Phillipe III in 1272.

There was a revival in Catharism around 1300 atFoix, but it was crushed by the Pamiers inquisi-tion who cut out tongues and burnt Catharsalive.

Thus the Cathar movement was totally extin-guished. Not one Cathar survived. Languedoc isstill underpopulated 700 years later. Theghostly, lofty, windblown fortresses are all thatare left to remind us of these simple and devoutpeople. A poignant reminder of what ‘just cru-sades’ can achieve when conducted againstthose who wish to be different!

John Laker

The Cathars (cont)

AIM continues to run successfully as a result of your committee, which organises the talks, vis-its and archaeological investigations that we present/conduct.

In June we will elect a new committee at our AGM. We know now that we will have vacanciesfor committee members and for the positions of Chairman, Treasurer, Publicity Secretary andMembership Secretary.

If you can spare a few hours per month to help on the committee, it would help enormously.Should you wish to know more about any of the above roles, please contact me (details on backpage); I will be delighted to hear from you.

John Laker (Chairman).

We Need You!

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During March we have carried out some field-walking (or wood-walking) and surveying inthe woodland surrounding our site. This is to help us gain more understanding of the siteby considering it within the context of its surroundings. It’s quite possible that there wasother nearby activity contemporary with the activity at our excavation site and we may beable to find earthworks or other signs of this activity.

Winter is the best time to do this sortof investigation as the vegetation is atits lowest and it is easier to spotthings. Once Spring kicks in, the vege-tation grows very quickly so we willnot be able to do much surveying likethis from April onwards.

We are not carrying out a detailedsurvey, but we are noting the loca-tion of anything interesting we findso that we can consider further inves-tigation in the future. We are using a GPS reader to record the position of features, whichare then plotted on a map. We are also checking any findings with the landowner, as hesometimes has useful information about them.

We have already found a number of interesting features, including boundary banks, sawpits, quarries and other earthworks of unknown purpose. The photo shows one of the lar-ger quarries, which was probably used for the extraction of sand or gravel. We plan to re-commence our Sunday excavations on 2nd April when we will uncover and clean up thetrenches we started last year. Further visits are provisionally scheduled for 23rd April, 7th

and 21st May, and 4th and 18th June. Please let me know if you would like to join us – usingmy contact details on the back page of the newsletter.

Andy Ford, John Laker and I will also visit the site on 9th April with Phil Andrews, our pro-fessional adviser from Wessex Archaeology, to discuss our strategy for 2017.

Martin Fowkes (Field Work Co-ordinator)

Warren Wood Update

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Other Events of interestOther Organisations’Events and Resources

Berkshire Archaeological SocietySaturday 8 April 2.00 pm for 2.30 p.m. 2017“Beyond London’s Walls”:Recent excavations at the site of the CrossrailBroadgate Ticket HallA talk by Robert HartleThe RISC Centre, London Street. Reading, RG1 4PS01189 586692 http://www.berksarch.co.uk/

Wycombe MuseumIron Age MasterchefMonday 10 April 2017 10:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.Kim Biddulph of Schools Prehistory and Archae-ology, supported by Heritage Lottery Fund.What did people eat in the Iron Age? Come and takepart in some culinary challenges that would havefaced our ancestors – how to turn wheat into bread,how to turn milk into butter, and find out why peopleused hot stones to boil water.In addition - Bread and butter workshops and hotstone technology workshops. Workshops are free,but booking essential, Donations welcomePriory Avenue, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP13 6PX01494 957 210http://wycombemuseum.org.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/wordpress/

BAS (Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society) Ac-tive Archaeology GroupTuesday 18 April 7.30 p.m.“The archaeology of Coleman's Wood”A talk by Stuart KingBucks County Museum,Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP£2 AAG members, £4 non-membershttp://www.bucksas.org.uk/aag.html

SOAG (South Oxfordshire Archaeological Group)Sunday 23 April 2017 2-5 p.m.SOAG's public Review of Archaeology, preceded bySOAG AGMGoring Heath Parish Hall, Whitchurch Hill, RG8 7NYhttp://www.soagarch.org.uk

Other Events of interestThis is the information available to us at the time of publication, but weadvise you to check as this may have changed since then.

Marlow SocietySaturday 29 April 2 p.m.Bisham ChurchA Guided Tour by John HarperBooking essential 01628 624677Donations welcome

Marlow SocietyMonday 15 May 8 p.m.“Henley Management College ‘Greenlands’”A Talk by Richard WalkerGarden Room, Liston HallMarlow SL7 1DD£1.50 members, £3 non-members 01628 476610

BAS (Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society) Ac-tive Archaeology GroupTuesday 16 May 7.30 pm“Recent discoveries near Thame”A talk by John BoothroydBucks County Museum,Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP£2 AAG members, £4 non-membershttp://www.bucksas.org.uk/aag.html

Marlow MuseumSaturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays 1pm to 5pmand Wednesdays 2pm to 5pm.Current Exhibition:‘The Story of Marlow Bottom’The residents of Marlow Bottom tell their story ofthis Chilterns valley.Entry free, donations welcomePeacock Room, Court Garden Leisure CentreHigginson Park, Pound Lane, Marlow SL7 2AEhttps://marlowmuseum.wordpress.com/

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AiM Committee Meetings

Future AiM Committee Meetings

7.30 pm on Wednesday 19th April at 3 Penington Road, Beaconsfield, HP9 1ET

All members are welcome to attend all AiM meetings.

Please telephone a committee member in advance to confirm date and venue.

AiM Committee Members

Chairman John Laker9 Spinfield Lane, Marlow, SL7 2JT01628 481792 - johnlaker@thamesinternet.com

Vice-Chairman Martin Fowkes88 Blind Lane, Bourne End, SL8 5LD01628 530832 - m88fowkes@gmail.com

Treasurer Ann Pitwell9 Spinfield Lane, Marlow, SL7 2JT01628 481792 - annpitwell@thamesinternet.com

Secretary Beverley Howard40, Pheasant Drive, High Wycombe, HP13 5JL01494 533669 - nicktillyer@yahoo.co.uk

Membership Secretary Nicky Penderedc/o 9 Spinfield Lane, Marlow, SL7 2JT

Newsletter Compiler Jessica Smalljessica.small.16@ucl.ac.uk

Joint Field Work Co-ordinators01628 481141 - andyford.marlow@btinternet.com Andy Ford01628 530832 - m88fowkes@gmail.com Martin Fowkes

Committee Member Tony Birkett01494 675195 - jabirkett@btinternet.com

AiM

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