CHRISTMAS MISCELLANY TALKS COVER A CODE-BREAKING GIANT, PRE-HISTORIC DISCOVERIES AND THE CHANGING FACE OF LOCAL NATURE

‘AGD’ - THE SECRET CODE-BREAKER OF

TWO WORLD WARS

by JOHN ROWLEY

Commander Alastair Guthrie Denniston, CBE, CMG (1890-1961) - known as ‘AGD’ - served his country in almost total secrecy for 30 years spanning both world wars. He and his family lived in Ashtead from 1937 to 1947.

   AGD was born in Scotland to a doctor’s family. They moved south for health reasons, settling near Altrincham, Cheshire, where he attended Bowdon College. After finishing school he attended universities in Bonn and Paris and then became a language teacher, eventually working at Osborne College on the Isle of Wight from 1909. (A keen hockey player, he was also in the Scottish team at the 1908 Olympics in London.)

   On the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, the Admiralty sought linguists and recruited him and three others from Osborne. This was the beginning of code-breaking and translation intelligence embodied in today’s Government Communications Headquarters  (GCHQ). It was then known enigmatically as ‘Room 40’, simply a room within the Old Admiralty Building.

    AGD played a crucial role in bringing about US entry into the war on the Allied side by translating a decoded German telegram to  Germany’s Embassy in Mexico revealing a proposed invasion of US territory. As all transatlantic cables passed through London, the General Post Office was able to provide copies for examination.

   In 1917, AGD was appointed a Commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. In 1918 he was despatched to the Fleet flagship taking the German surrender at Scapa Flow and then participated in the Versailles peace conference, monitoring communications.

   Room 40 became the Government Code & Cypher School which continued naval, diplomatic and commercial traffic intelligence in peacetime. Following a merger with army intelligence, AGD became director of the GC&CS. Holding the OBE since 1918, he was also given the CBE in 1933. 

    During the late 1930s he worked with French and Polish colleagues examining mechanised coding methods developed in Germany. Shortly before the outbreak of World War 2 he led a delegation to Poland to see a code-breaking device whose principle would later be developed into the Enigma machine.

    With the growth in intelligence officer numbers he was involved in moving the GC&CS to Bletchley Park early in 1939 and its renaming as GCHQ.

   AGD had married in 1918 and in 1936 his wife Dorothy organised a move of the family home from Chelsea to Ashtead. They arrived on 21 May 1937, living on the Berg estate. After working with a local builder, O.W. Presland, they moved into North End, Greville Park Avenue on 2 January 1938 and their son Robin started at Downsend School while his sister Margaret went to Parsons Mead. Retaining their Surrey home, they moved to a farmhouse nearer Bletchley Park in 1939.

    Running GCHQ, AGD recruited steadily at all levels, especially from Oxbridge using methods evolved by the secret services. Famous figures included the great Alan Turing. Flow lines for receiving messages from dispersed radio interception stations through to actionable intelligence were established using huts in the grounds of Bletchley Park.

   In 1941, AGD underwent bladder surgery and was eventually recalled to London where he became director of a reborn Room 40 at an office in Berkeley Street. There code-breaking continued for many additional languages, Japanese in particular.

   On the weekend of 22-23 May 1943, AGD hosted an American intelligence colleague, Col William Friedman, at his home in Ashtead. They watched a cricket match in Woodfield Lane and played golf at Tyrrells Wood. The Dennistons were well integrated into local sporting life.

   AGD left the public service in May 1945 and returned to teaching at  Downsend School. The couple sold North End in September 1947, moving to the New Forest to be near Margaret. Dorothy died in 1958 and AGD in 1961.

   Curiously perhaps, AGD, the first ever director of GCHQ, died without receiving any obituaries or official attendance at his funeral. However, on hearing the news, Friedman wrote to Margaret: ‘Your father was a great man, in whose debt all English-speaking people will remain for a very long time, if not forever. That so very few of them should know exactly what he did toward achievement of victory in World Wars 1 and 2 is the sad part of the untold story of his life and of his great contributions to that victory.’

  

ARCHAEOLOGY AT ROWHURST - THE STORY SO FAR

by NIGEL BOND, DIRECTOR OF EXCAVATIONS

The first excavations at Rowhurst, Leatherhead, took place in three  weeks of May and one week in October. They form part of the Surrey Archaeological Society’s county-wide Heritage Lottery Funded community outreach project. 

   This project aims to engage members of the public in archaeology and learn more of their local heritage. We were pleased to have a number of people join SyAS’s experienced diggers for test-pitting at the weekends, pupils and teachers from West Hill School for a hand-on excavation experience, and many people attending our open day in May. 

   In all, we excavated ten one-metre square test-pits, the deepest down to 1.2m, and six trenches one metre wide and up to 8m long.  As well as a large quantity of 19th and 20th century material we were excited to discover prehistoric and Roman material distributed across much of the site. 

   Prehistoric pottery dates to the Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age (900-600 BC). The Roman pottery included a large piece of a wine jar (amphora) made in southern Spain around 170-300 AD. This was found at the bottom of what appears to be a hole for a timber post, our first evidence of early construction activity on the site.

  We also found several pieces of a Medieval pot from 1050-1250 AD.  On future digs we will be looking for more evidence from prehistoric to Roman, Saxon, Medieval and later periods. Eventually we hope to build a picture of people’s lives at Rowhurst through time. 

   The Domesday Book tells us there is a lost Saxon minster church to be found somewhere in this part of Leatherhead. It may be awaiting discovery within Rowhurst’s grounds.

WALKING IN LEATHERHEAD

by BILL WHITMAN

In the last few years the birds and beasts to be seen when walking by the river in Leatherhead have changed.

   Gill Whitman’s compilation of photos taken in 2012-13 featured piebald horses and cows that no longer graze on Leatherhead’s Town Meadow. Egrets and a cormorant are now commonly seen but were not there when these photos were taken but unusual diving ducks, a pair of Scaups, were photographed.

   The gentle musical background blended well with herons and swans in flight and ungainly cygnets finding their feet. There were also lovely photographs of butterflies, flowers, trees and fungi in the short presentation.

FASHION AND FOLLY: THE LENGTHS WOMEN - AND SOME MEN - WILL GO TO FOLLOW FASHION

Over the centuries people have gone to extreme and often bizarre lengths in order to stay in the fashion, Jane Lewis of  the Surrey History Centre, told the L&DLHS November  meeting at the Letherhead Institute.

   

Making the point throughout that suffering has always resulted from slavish following of fashion, she began with the Christian Dior collection of 1947 and the era when starched petticoats for dancing caused itchiness, rashes and ruined nylon stockings. The early 1950s also  saw women wearing over-tight corselettes which exaggerated curvy figures at the expense of comfort and brought long-term physical harm.

   

This was nothing, however, compared with what had gone on half a century before and earlier. She moved on to Edwardian times when the S-bend corset was laced so tightly around waists - see picture above - that it caused internal injuries. Starched high collars upset the skin and the use of bone and steel also dug into people's necks. 

In the mid 19th century things were even worse. Absurdly heavy crinolines were worn with a bustle or bamboo cage underneath the dress as an alternative to multiple petticoats. Women had difficulty with access to toilets, often causing infections, and  the crinolines themselves were a serious fire risk.

At the start of the 19th century corsets were worn so tightly that women could barely move, while a fashion for revealing figures through dampened clothing resulted in chills and deaths.

    

In the 18th century panniers expanded dresses by up to four feet in any direction. Cane or bamboo hoop petticoats added maybe 60 pounds in weight to clothing. At that time the use of arsenic and other toxic chemicals on the skin also became common, supposedly improving its natural condition but of course actually poisoning the wearer. This was a further development from the 17th century fashion of whitening skin with paint to demonstrate not prettiness but prosperity. Toxic lead was its main component. Bella Donna was applied to brighten - and eventually blind - eyes; sulphate of mercury to enhance eyelashes with horrendous results; and dots and patches of mouse-skin to cover smallpox scars. Yet variations on this use of toxic chemicals continued right up to the 20th century!

   

18th century hairstyles required piling up of hair over a frame with use of lard and powder to maintain shapes. The use of corn-flour effectively created pastry on women's heads which naturally attracted lice and other vermin. In the 1780s unnaturally grey hair was fashionable and women would powder and enhance their own hair with that of others - not always human. Some added flea-ridden dog-hair to their own! Later use of unsafe curling tongs or irons effectively cooked hair in the mid 19th century, while as late as the 1930s, cold perms may have curled hair to match that shown on cinema screens but also wrecked it in the longer term.

   

Jane briefly covered dental fashions too. In the 18th century people bought teeth extracted from corpses to fill their own gaps. Dentures came later but were actually abused by dentists as late as the 1950s when they charged for unnecessary extractions rather than working to save natural teeth as they do today.

   

She ended her talk by asking what had now changed. Fashions today were almost as bizarre as in the past. She quoted her own mother - a fashion victim herself - saying ‘better out of the world than out of the fashion’. Consider how much is spent today on hairdressers, designer trainers or little pieces of froth and net to balance precariously on the heads of wedding guests. Is it absolutely necessary to have shoes that cannot be walked in, permed eyelashes or extended fingernails? Fashion continues its folly.

HOW CRIME INVESTIGATORS USE SIMILAR TECHNIQUES TO ARCHAEOLOGISTS

PROFESSOR PATRICIA WILTSHIRE

LECTURE

FRIDAY, 18 OCTOBER, LETHERHEAD INSTITUTE

Archaeologists use plants, fungi, soil, and other microscopic entities to reconstruct ancient environments. Now forensic ecologists are doing the same to investigate crimes on behalf of the police. Professor Patricia Wiltshire has worked on over 250 criminal cases, including rape and murder, across the UK. Using actual case histories, her talk outlined how tiny particles that had accumulated in lakes and peat, on  ancient buried  soil surfaces and on archaeological bone and artefacts, also stuck to modern items such as clothing, vehicles, and footwear. This allowed people's movements to be reconstructed and helped decide outcomes in criminal investigations.

This lecture replaced the scheduled one on the development of hedgerows which Professor Wiltshire will give on another occasion.

Society lectures are given in the Abraham Dixon Hall at the Letherhead Institute. Coffee/tea from 7.30pm, talk at 8pm. Admission £2.  

WHEN BATHING REGULARLY BECAME FASHIONABLE AGAIN AFTER 1400 YEARS

Queen Elizabeth I famously had a bath once a year, 'whether she needed it or not' during her reign in the 16th century. By the Georgian era 150 years later, advances in ceramics and the delivery of cleaner water allowed the better-off classes to be more fastidious in bathing, leading eventually to development of spa towns like Epsom, Bath, Leamington, Cheltenham and Harrogate. However this new health fad could also be used as a cover for more licentious activities. 

Ian Betts is the Museum of London archaeology expert on building materials and ceramics. Speaking at the Letherhead Institute on 20 September, he explained that he had become interested in Georgian baths through noticing tile work in some of the buildings he visited, then got funding to study the subject seriously.

The Romans had a sophisticated system for bathing, he began. Oil was applied to the skin and bathers went into hot and cold plunge pools to make them sweat the dirt from their pores This was scraped off and they were then massaged. Once the Romans left Britain, their baths were abandoned. Anglo-Saxons bathed in rivers, if at all, and sometimes these were dammed to create a bathing pool, but by the 13th century there are only a few references to wooden tubs used for bathing.

The Dark Ages arrived in Britain in the fifth century and the rest of western Europe but the Roman Empire survived in the east, based at Byzantium (Constantinople). The Islamic communities that superseded that picked up the idea of Roman-style baths from there. In the early 18th century elements of Islamic life became fashionable in western Europe and Roman-style bathing returned in the form of Turkish baths, using the same system of hot and cold pools.

In England, the first modern baths were found in country houses such as at Carshalton and Claremont. Some had a single pool, others both hot and cold. In London, commercial bagnios, as they were known, were established around Covent Garden. The Italian 'bagnio' was quickly anglicised to 'bendigo'.  Covent Garden became a hotbed of creativity with artists, artists' suppliers, booksellers, bookbinders, printmakers, theatres, actors, writers and a booming sex industry. The bagnios were aimed at the rich, with fine furnishings, high-quality tableware and steep prices. They catered for both sexes and upstairs rooms could be rented by the hour or the night. 

Many were really of course just fronts for brothels and famous London madams established their own bagnios.  Hogarth produced a picture of the notorious Betty Careless being carried home drunk from hers in a sedan chair.  She ended her life in the poor house but others did very well out of the trade. The Harris List, a periodical of the day listing London's prostitutes, said the bagnios 'provide both sexes with pleasure'. Others promoted a more respectable image, with men and women admitted on different days and some advertised that they could cater for a whole family and their servants.

Spa towns developed separately from the bagnios. These involved drinking health-giving water as well as bathing in it, usually fully clothed. They were modelled on other European spas as at Baden Baden. The city of Bath, with its natural hot springs and rediscovered Roman bath, was an early example.

Bath was followed by others such as Harrogate, Leamington, Cheltenham and locally Epsom. The spa experience also involved eating and drinking far too much and gambling. Sea bathing also became fashionable later with the coming of the railways.

The 19th century bought high-pressure steam-driven pumps and iron pipes to stand the resulting loads of water, and local authorities were empowered to supply all homes. Few then had bathrooms so councils built public baths with individual slipper baths, wash houses for washing clothes, and later swimming pools. Urban lower classes were able to keep themselves clean for the first time. These facilities, and pressure from the Society for the Suppression of Vice, killed off the remaining bagnios although some buildings survived as wash houses. There are a very few remnants left in London.

Ian's talk was based on a paper submitted to Transactions London & Middlesex Archaeology  Society which is due out next year when L&DLHS members will have access to the full text.

RETURN OF 'CHERKLEY COURT CONTRASTING OWNERS' FOR HERITAGE WEEK

As part of Heritage Week, Tony Matthews, Editor of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society Newsletter, will repeat his lecture on the contrasting owners of Cherkley Court, one of Leatherhead's most headline-catching landmarks. This will be at 2pm this Friday, 20 September at the Letherhead Institute. Later in the evening at 7.30pm the series of regular monthly talks will resume too, starting with Ian Betts' talk on Georgian Baths. See additional report link on the right.

'GEORGIAN BATHS AND BATHING PRACTICES' LETHERHEAD INSTITUTE, 7.30PM, FRIDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER

Queen Elizabeth I famously had a bath once a year, 'whether she needed it or not' during her reign in the 16th century. By the Georgian era 150 years later, advances in ceramics and the delivery of cleaner water allowed the better-off classes to be more fastidious in bathing, leading to development of spa towns like Epsom, Bath, Leamington, Cheltenham and Harrogate. However this new health fad could also be used as a cover for more licentious activities. 

Ian Betts, a ceramics expert at the Museum of London Archaeology, will be speaking on surviving Georgian baths found in Greater London and looking  at evidence for others that once existed in the capital.

Using contemporary illustrations, he will go on to discuss what they were like and place bathing in the context of 18th century Georgian society generally. They had controversial reputations, often linked to prostitution, although this is not as clear-cut as some authors suggest. In London the baths were largely concentrated around Covent Garden, a creative hub with its theatres, coffee shops, book-binders, actors and artists.

  

He will then examine the reasons for their decline and replacement by the more respectable municipal baths which became popular in the following century and survived into modern times. He will also mention the establishment of the spa towns elsewhere in the country.

Ian's talk is based on a paper submitted to Transactions London & Middlesex Archaeology  Society which is due out next year when L&DLHS members will have access to the full text.

  

BARNES WALLIS COMMEMORATIVE EXHIBITION FOR HERITAGE OPEN DAY IN EFFINGHAM

An exhibition commemorating the life of Sir Barnes Wallis, inventor of World War 2's famous 'bouncing bomb' for the Dambusters' Raid, will be held at the Tithe Barn in Manor House Lane, Little Bookham on Saturday, 14 September for Heritage Open Day. It is being organised by the Effingham Residents Association to mark 40 years since Sir Barnes' death.

He and his wife were Effingham residents and active members of many village organisations, including St Lawrence Church, for over 30 years. They are buried in St. Lawrence churchyard.

The exhibition will cover his life and career as an engineer and inventor. It will also cover his years in Effingham and the important contributions he made to the village. Material, including articles and objects associated with him, is being loaned by Brooklands Museum and the Barnes Wallis Foundation. The exhibition is also being supported by members of his own family, together with St Lawrence and All Saints Churches, Effingham Parish Council, the Effingham Housing Association and the Effingham Village Recreation Trust.

The exhibition will be open from 9am to 5pm. Refreshments of tea, coffee and home-made cakes will also be available to enjoy in the Tithe Barn’s beautiful courtyard garden with donations welcomed for the Friends of St Lawrence and All Saints Church.

CELEBRATING THE ANTHONY HILL RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION AT HAMPTON COTTAGE

The works of Anthony Hill, the local artist who devoted his retirement and talent to raising funds for local causes, are now being celebrated in the first major exhibition at Leatherhead Museum since its refurbishment earlier this year.

   Anthony, who died in 1997, and his wife Helena held regular exhibitions of his paintings which were very popular in the local community. Many people have lent their paintings to the Museum for the exhibition. Based at the 17th century Hampton Cottage in Church Street, the exhibition opened on Saturday, 20 July and runs until the end of Heritage Week on 22 September.

   As an architect, Anthony had an eye for the beauty of buildings. Many of his paintings feature them in all sizes from his garden shed upwards! He preferred the small and vernacular to grand buildings and also painted many landscapes. His line drawings feature familiar local landmarks including Leatherhead Parish Church, Sweech House on Gravel Hill, the White House in Church Road, and of course Hampton Cottage itself.

   As well as his architectural career, Anthony’s life included war service in the Royal Navy and 17 years as an Anglican priest. The exhibition includes examples of his maritime work as well as both urban and rural settings from different parts of the country. He was churchwarden in Leatherhead in 1989, at the time of the fire which nearly destroyed the parish church. He was among the first people on the scene and one of the paintings in this exhibition shows the fire as he first saw it in the north transept. It has pride of place in the church vestry. His architectural expertise was invaluable in the subsequent repair and restoration.

   Leatherhead Museum is run entirely by L&DLHS volunteers and is open free of charge to the public on Thursdays and Fridays from 1pm to 4pm and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. For Heritage Week it is also open on Sunday 22 September from 10am to 4pm. For more information email museum@leatherheadhistory.org or go to www.leatherheadhistory.org.

Captions:

1. Banner for the exhibition outside Leatherhead Museum.

2. The late Anthony Hill and his wife Helena.

3. Watercolour of Leatherhead Bridge.

4. Museum Manager Peter Humphreys (left) chats with Anthony's son Nick at the official opening of the exhibition.

5. Nick Hill and David Eaton, former vicar at Leatherhead Parish Church (1989-2009) and friend of Anthony Hill, study Anthony's depiction of the church fire in 1989.

6. HMS Malaya in 1943.

7. One of Anthony's many line drawings of a peaceful scene.

8. Line drawing of Hampton Cottage.

RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION OF THE WORK OF LEATHERHEAD ARTIST ANTHONY HILL

The works of Anthony Hill, the local artist who devoted his retirement and talent to raising funds for local causes, are about to be celebrated in the first major exhibition at Leatherhead Museum since its refurbishment earlier this year.

   Anthony, who died in 1997, and his wife Helena held regular exhibitions of his paintings which were very popular in the local community. Many people have lent their paintings to the Museum for the exhibition. Based at the 17th century Hampton Cottage in Church Street, the exhibition opens on Saturday, 20 July and runs until the end of Heritage Week on 22 September.

   As an architect, Anthony had an eye for the beauty of buildings. Many of his paintings feature them in all sizes from his garden shed upwards! He preferred the small and vernacular to grand buildings and also painted many landscapes. His line drawings feature familiar local landmarks including Leatherhead Parish Church, Sweech House on Gravel Hill, the White House in Church Road, and of course Hampton Cottage itself.

   As well as his architectural career, Anthony’s life included war service in the Royal Navy and 17 years as an Anglican priest. The exhibition includes examples of his maritime work as well as both urban and rural settings from different parts of the country. He was churchwarden in Leatherhead in 1989, at the time of the fire which nearly destroyed the parish church. He was among the first people on the scene and one of the paintings in this exhibition shows the fire as he first saw it in the north transept. It has pride of place in the church vestry. His architectural expertise was invaluable in the subsequent repair and restoration.

   Leatherhead Museum is run entirely by L&DLHS volunteers and is open free of charge to the public on Thursdays and Fridays from 1pm to 4pm and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. For Heritage Week it is also open on Sunday 22 September from 10am to 4pm. For more information email

museum@leatherheadhistory.org or go to www.leatherheadhistory.org.

Captions:

1. Anthony Hill with his depiction of the church fire.

2. Watercolour of Leatherhead Bridge.

3. Line drawing of Hampton Cottage.

4. HMS Malaya in 1943.

CAN ANYONE PROVIDE MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT BOOKHAM DEVELOPER ARTHUR BIRD?

Arthur Bird, a London solicitor and property developer, played a major role in the creation of modern Bookham.  At the end of the 19th century he bought what is now The Grange and was formerly the School of Stitchery at Preston Cross. He also bought land west of Church Road and north of Lower Road, dividing it up  for development, and gave what is today the Old Barn Hall to the parish.

We know that he laid out a short road running east from Little Bookham Street, called Nelson Road with a terrace of three cottages. That is now part of Oakdene Road. He may also have built Merrylands Cottages at the end of a short spur road running south from Station Road on the only stretch of land immediately nearby not owned at the time by another major developer, Mrs Mary Chrystie.

On 9 June 1905 Arthur's son George became Rector at St Nicolas, the parish church, going on to serve there right up to 1926. Both of them are now buried in the churchyard together with their wives. Arthur and his wife Mary Jane are shown above. 

This much is known about Arthur Bird but a great many questions remain to be answered about his life. What was his background, for example and that of his wife? Exactly how much land did he buy up and how did he set about breaking it up for development? How much money was involved? Why did the Barn Hall end up with Bookham Community Association rather than the church?

Bill Whitman, former Editor of The Proceedings, is appealing for a volunteer to research the answers to these questions with the aim of running a biographical article in the Newsletter. Please email newsletter@ leatherheadhistory.org if you can assist with this.

BBC RADIO SURREY DROPS IN AT HAMPTON COTTAGE ON THIS YEAR'S CRAFT DAYS

BBC Radio Surrey presenter Allison Ferns dropped by at Hampton Cottage on the first of this year's special Craft Days for children at the Museum on 30 and 31 May.

With microphone at the ready she interviewed Friends of the Museum Robin Christian and Lin Hampson, together with actress Suzanne Page from Horsham who appeared for the third year running in costume. Suzanne has twice played the role of dressmaker Hilda Hollis, Hampton Cottage's last private resident, and last year she appeared as a Suffragette to mark the centenary of votes for women since 1918.

Another actress, Anna Bird from Crawley, made her second Craft Days appearance dressed as a washerwoman and was especially popular with children who helped her with the washing.

Allison also interviewed Museum volunteers in the garden as they entertained the young visitors. Listeners to Radio Surrey were treated to no less than eight minutes of live coverage on Allison's regular chat show which starts at noon every Monday to Thursday and lasts all afternoon. The Hampton Cottage recording on 30 May can now be heard on the BBC website some two hours and 40 minutes into the show.  

The weather was fine on both days, the first time that the annual Craft Days had been organised during the schools' half term break.The newly refurbished Museum was busy but not overcrowded with 17 adults and 15 children entertained on the Thursday and 17 adults with 26 children on the Friday.

KEYNOTE LECTURE ON DONALD CAMPBELL - LEATHERHEAD'S LEGENDARY SPEED CHAMPION

Leatherhead's historic links with the legendary speed champion Donald Campbell will be covered in a major talk at Horsley's De Vere Hotel from 8pm on Friday, 7 June.

Belfast-based tour operator Colin Cobb will be giving the keynote lecture to members of the Speed Record Club, an international body that was founded in 1991 some 25 years after Campbell's fatal crash at Lake Coniston on 4 January 1967. Colin is shown above (on the right of the picture) meeting key members of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society.

Donald Campbell (1921-1967) broke eight world records for speed on both land and water. He died trying to exceed 300 mph on the water speed record  when his boat Bluebird K7 flipped out of control on the lake and sank. When  it was finally recovered, together with his body, in 2001 it was found that the water brake had deployed after the accident as a result of stored accumulator pressure.

Donald's passion for speed was ignited by the example of his father, Sir Malcolm Campbell (1885-1948), who broke 13 world records during the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1955 and 1964, Donald set seven world speed records, increasing the record from 202mph in 1955 to 276mph in 1964.

In the mid-1960s he and his third wife were living at Priors Ford on Gimcrack Hill in Leatherhead. It was there that he and his engineering team prepared to race Bluebird K7 for what proved to be his final speed attempt. Bluebird K7 is shown above outside the building, flanked by two other vehicles. The house was sold after his death, demolished and replaced by the Campbell Court flats. It can also be seen in the photo above taken c1965.

In the 1980s Donald's daughter Gina took up power boat racing. She won the UK Offshore Boating Association Championship and broke the Women's World Water Speed Record at 122.8 mph. She was later awarded the Queen's Service Order for promoting water safety. In January 2017 she returned to Coniston Water to mark the 50th anniversary of her father's death.

You can hear and read an historic interview with Gina in 1981 on this website. Go to SOCIETY - ORAL HISTORIES - GINA CAMPBELL.

WAR AND PEACE IN SURREY- FINAL EVENT

THE USE OF LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING (LIDAR) IN ARCHAEOLOGY

Krystyna Truscoe of Reading University will explain how Lidar, or Airborne Laser Scanning, now allows archaeologists to ‘see through trees’ and discover previously unknown sites. 

Talk 8pm, Friday 17 May 2019

At the Letherhead Institute, High Street, Leatherhead. Coffee at 7.30pm. Entrance £2. Non-members welcome

CRAFT AFTERNOONS FOR CHILDREN BACK IN MAY 2019

OPEN DAY FOR BUDDING ARCHAEOLOGISTS

WORMS, ASHES AND BONES; FROM DARWIN TO TODAY AT ABINGER

EMMA CORKE, former president of the Surrey Archaeological Society, gave the April talk about discoveries on the Iron Age and Roman site at Cocks Farm, Abinger. Her great great grandfather, Thomas Henry Farrer, bought Abinger Hall at Cocks Farm in 1875. His gardeners soon discovered the remains of a Roman building on the site and archaeological excavations in the following year uncovered six rooms, including one with a coarse-tessellated floor from Roman times.

   Farrer was friends with Charles Darwin, the founder of modern understanding about evolution of species, and Darwin’s son Horace married Farrer’s daughter Ida. In 1880 Horace produced a plan of the Cocks Farm site. Darwin himself was interested in investigating the role of earthworms in movement of ancient stone structures.

   Nothing more was done until a tree uprooted in the great storm of October 1987 was seen to have the corner of a stone-built room in its roots, together with painted wall-plaster and fine tesserae.

   Three years of excavation in 1995-97 by Surrey Archaeological Society found a large late-Roman building, which led to the site being declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument. So many questions remained that in 2009 English Heritage gave permission for five more years of excavation on the buildings, which has found a multi-phase, probably courtyard, villa.

   Meanwhile, geophysics in the surroundings led to the discovery of a Roman lime kiln (with a uniquely surviving entrance), a Roman field system, and an area of high disturbance on the top of the knoll above the villa. This is where archaeological efforts have been concentrated for the last five years. Several phases of Iron Age enclosures have been discovered, with storage pits and cremation deposits. Overlying them are many Roman features including farm buildings.

   The work has revealed artefacts from the Mesolithic period from 12,000 to 3000 BC onwards and provides evidence that the site was occupied and farmed continuously from the Neolithic through to the 19th century. Thirty  Iron  Age grain storage pits, one of them 3.4m in diameter, indicate that the site was the centre of a thriving network of farms in that era.

   It is clear that the owners in the Roman period were rich but we can only speculate who they were, how they made their money or how they used the villa. Were they pre-Roman British owners taking on the Roman style, foreigners who replaced them or what?  Did they make their money from farming or maybe from business in Londinium? Was this their permanent home or a country retreat? 

   We do know that they made several attempts to establish a vineyard on the site. In Roman society, anybody who was anybody produced their own wine. The Abinger vineyard probably never worked very well because the soil is greensand, not chalk, and not therefore ideal for grapes.

   The excavations have uncovered several smaller buildings, a lime kiln with some of the last load of lime still in place, and in the main villa the tessellated pavement, part of a bath house and an unheated summer dining room with a fine mosaic floor, sadly damaged when later occupants lit a fire on it.

   Over the years the team has found the remains of sacrificed animals and many human cremation burials, including one that used a Deverel-Rimbury Bronze Age pot already centuries old to hold remains. Other ritual deposits include complete and deliberately broken quern stones, some made from German lava stone. Quern stones were valuable items so these were substantial offerings. Roman pots discovered include ceramic beehives, imported storage jars and  some of a style not seen before now called OXSU (oxidised pottery from Surrey).

   Things are not always as they seem. The 2016 excavation revealed  five complete cattle skeletons, young animals and not butchered. The first guess was that they were an ancient sacrifice but carbon dating shows they were buried around the Tudor or Stuart periods. Possibly they died of rinderpest and were buried to protect the rest of the herd.