Hendon and District Archaeological Society

Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) is an amateur archaeological society based in the London Borough of Barnet, England, and is registered as a charity with the UK Charity Commission (Registration number 269949).

HADAS was founded in 1961 by Themistocles Constantinides to investigate the Saxon origins of Hendon and since has grown to over 150 members covering the whole of the London Borough of Barnet, and addressing all archaeological periods. Its two declared objectives are to undertake archaeological and historical research, and education for the public benefit, with particular reference to the London Borough of Barnet.

The society has been active in many excavations and other fieldwork in the Borough of Barnet and surrounding areas, the results of which are published in the Society’s Journal and newsletters, or published in books such as A Place in Time – The London Borough of Barnet up to c.1500 (ISBN ). The first excavation in 1961 was at the ruins of Church End Farm, near the parish church of Hendon St Mary’s. Further excavations have included the West Heath Mesolithic camp site at Hampstead, Roman Hendon, medieval Chipping Barnet, and the Roman site of Sulloniacis at Brockley Hill, a centre of Roman pottery production.

With the introduction of the UK Government’s PPG 16 (Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning) in 1990, the opportunities for amateur societies to undertake invasive archaeology, such as excavations, reduced greatly and so the Society has developed its use of non-invasive techniques such as ground resistivity analysis, and expanded its activities towards its other stated goal, that of education.

A training programme was created in 2003 in association with Birkbeck College, University of London, in the area of post-excavation analysis. The first instance of this was run under the title “Post-Excavation: Analysis of materials from the Ted Sammes archive”, and resulted in a book published in 2006 in association with Birkbeck College and the Museum of London entitled The Last Hendon Farm: The archaeology and history of Church End Farm (ISBN ). This book won a commendation at the British Archaeology Awards (BAA) in 2006 in the section for the Pitt-Rivers Award for the best project by a volunteer organisation.

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