Heritage Photography Spring 2014

JOURNAL of the ARCHAEOLOGY & HERITAGE GROUP

1974-2014 40 th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Prints from the Group Archives Stepped Pyramid , Saqqara R. K Evans FRPS

South Choir Aisle , Wells Cathedral Arth ur J Page FRPS

Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia , Delphi

H. Craws haw ARPS

SPRING 2014

Archaeology & Heritage Group Chairman R. Keith Evans FRPS 7 Grassy Lane Sevenoaks Kent TN131PN Tel 01732 743943 Secretary Rodney Thring LRPS 27 College Ride Camberley Surrey GU15 4JP Treasurer Jim Tonks ARPS Earlton 174 Chairborough Road High Wycombe Bucks HP12 3HW Committee Eric Houlder LRPS (Archaeology Editor) Martin Fletcher Ken Keen FRPS Chelin Miller (Webmaster) Gwil Owen ARPS Dr Mike Sasse

PERSPECTIVE WELCOME to this 40 th Anniversary issue of Heritage Photography. The inaugural meeting of what was to become the RPS Archaeology & Heritage Group took place in London in April 1974; in the article opposite, three of our members recall highlights of those first 40 years, and on the front cover we illustrate some of our members' many prints held in our photographic archive .

Following extensive discussion at the Group's 2013 Annual General Meeting and at subsequent Committee Meetings - and taking into account members' feedback concerning our 2013-2014 cash flow forecast-your Committee has agreed a rise in the Group annual subscription to ÂŁ15. The previous subscription rate has been unchanged since 2010, and still remains one of the lowest among The Society's special-interest groups .

You will by now be familiar with the new RPS website and our Group's presence on it. So this is an appropriate time to welcome onto the Committee our new Group webmaster, Chelin Miller LRPS; she takes over from Dr Mike Sasse, who has competently acted in this role for the past five years.

Several of our Group members have, over the years, worked closely with the National Churches Trust in recording many of the historic church buildings to which it has awarded grants and loans to assist with their maintenance and preservation for the future. It was with great pleasure, therefore, that my wife and I accepted on the Group's behalf an invitation to the Trust's Sixtieth Anniversary Service in Westminster Abbey on 28 November. Some 2,000 people attended, including the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and a moving and appropriate address was given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby. We were privileged to be part of this memorable event.

On a sadder note, we regret the death in January of John Bartlett ARPS, a long-standing and supportive member of the Group. In his professional career, John was a well-known and respected neurosurgeon; he was also a devoted family man, and our condolences go to John's wife Cilia and his family.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that with effect from our forthcoming Autumn issue, the Editorship of Heritage Photography is to be taken over by Eric Houlder LRPS, our present Archaeology Editor. A professional archaeologist and historian, Eric has worked as site director on numerous archaeological investigations, from postwar work at Sutton Hoo to recent discoveries throughout northern England; he is also President of a major northern archaeological society, and a member (and past-Chairman) of the northern committee of the Council for British Archaeology.

With long experience in writing, lecturing and publishing, Eric will, I believe, ensure that Heritage Photography becomes a professionally edited journal more closely attuned to members' needs and interests

R. Keith Evans, Chairman.

Published by the Archaeology & Heritage Group of The Royal Photographic Society, March 2014 Copyright in all text and photographs is held by the credited authors, or as otherwise stated.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form without prior written permission of the Publisher.

ISSN No. 0-904495-00-0

How the Group'sNewsletter has evolved overforty years. 'Archaeolog'(left) datesfrom the 1970s; 'The Proof' was published throughoutthe 1980s; and these two issues q/ 'Heritage Photography'are from 1993 and 1996.

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Reminiscen ¡ces ...

On this 40th anniversary of the founding of the then Archaeological Group, we have invited three current Members - the Group's first Secretary, and two subsequent Chairmen - to record their memories of its first three decades.

Brian Tremain

demonstrates aUghting arrangement at a Group Conference in 1977.

HOW THE GROUP BEGAN In April 1974, on the Group's founding, Brian Tremain FRPS was elected its first Secretary.

He recalls those formative years of the 1970s Though the Photographic Society of London, forerunner of the RPS, was founded in 1853, for the next 120 years there was no special-interest group relevant to archaeology. To the Reverend Robert Pitt this was something that needed to be rectified.

Bob Pitt ARPS was an Australian Baptist minister who had worked in Melbourne and in Canada before coming to England in 1951. He was also a skilled archaeological photographer, serving as official site photographer on Israeli excavations, and his work was widely exhibited.

In the 1970s the RPS headquarters were in central London, at 14 South Audley Street, and it was here that Bob Pitt brought together people he believed would be interested in forming an Archaeological Group of the Society. This inaugural meeting took place on 2nd April 1974, in a packed lecture room. Many notable names from both the academic and practical sides of archaeological photography attended; the meeting was chaired by Bob Pitt, supported by Kenneth Warr, Secretary of the RPS, Derrick Knight, RPS ViceChairman, and our patron, the archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler. I was the then Head of Photography at the National Maritime Museum, and was tasked with taking the Minutes.

Audience members were invited to suggest what activities they would like the Group to undertake, with Bob Pitt outlining his own ideas of "the fellowship he hopes will grow between Archaeologists and Photographers; also that perhaps a pool of Photographers might be formed to assist Archaeologists when there is a need".

The first committee meeting took place on 9th April 1974, with the first item on the agenda being the election of Officers and Committee Members . These were: Chairman Bob Pitt, Secretary - Bri Tremain; plus Henry Clear, John Cowan, Trevor Hurst, Derek Knight, John Matthews, Terence Mitchell and Roger Wood. This was just the beginning of

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many committee meetings, and quickly a Constitution was drawn up and Exhibitions and Conference_s arranged.

Changing times, changing interests At that time, remember, photographic plates and film ruled the world. Compared to today it was an entirely different ball game, since the processing and printing involved were more than most archaeologists were prepared or interested to undertake. Hence it is no great surprise that the two disciplines tended to stay apart. This has meant that today the majority of the Group membership is photographically orientated and its programmes only lightly touch archaeology. The photography of churches, cathedrals, castles, landscapes, industry - all relating to our heritage - has quite naturally meant adding 'Heritage' to the Group name.

Some of the early Conferences were two-day events involving visits, lectures and demonstrations, at or in conjunction with well established institutions such as museums. In the picture above, for example, taken in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, during a Conference workshop in April 1977, I am demonstrating the lighting of a bust of Sir Mortimer Wheeler.

Typical of those early Conferences, presentations that year included 'Photography for Site Archaeologists', 'Underwater Archaeology', and 'The Excavation of Greenwich Palace'. All were well supported - as they have been over subsequent years and still are at our Annual Conference today.

MEMORIES FROM THE 1980s ...

The architectural photographs of Clive Tanner FRPS were often taken on large-format cameras and exhibited as fine art prints. Clive later became Group Chairman

Joining the RPS was a step into the unknown for me. When around 1985 I joined the Archaeology and Heritage Group, it was at that time under the Chairmanship of Victor Hepplethwaite. A man of indefatigable energy, a visionary and with

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great self belief , Victor would nail you when you attended one of his Group meetings, and then you would get calls and letters about contributing to future events . It was always difficult to refuse these entreaties, and usually the task was not too onerous .

The Group's Annual Conference in those days was a Friday evening-to-Sunday morning affair held at the National Sporting Centre at Crystal Palace . Victor managed to persuade, cajole , bully or blackmail well-known speakers to give presentations , and great entertainment was enjoyed by the attendees. One year we somehow got involved with a ladies' calisthenics class run by George Best's wife ; on one occasion the British Boxing Junior team proved great company; and another year the coincidental entertainment was provided by a team of grid-iron footballers , who were adept at running and passing at speed but disastrous when there was thinking time .

As I say, there were many fine and informative speakers, some from within The Society and others who came for the day to describe their particular use of photography and the problems they encountered . All gave a fascinating insight into their working lives . Then there were Group members who explained and showed the results of their photography too many to recall accurately, but it is the little things that spring to mind , such as the tape-controlled audio-visual talk when the control tape had been left behind and the audience had to sing the sound track .

One year saw the adoption of a garish pink tie to be worn by each speaker ; most did so willingly, including Arthur Downes, the then RPS President, but it took much persuading for Reggie Mason, editor of the RPS Journal, to wear the tie .

Eventually he did so , and I am sure there will be a photo of it somewhere in the archives .

Like most good things, time seems to give their memory a rosy hue: good memories of times past. Other Conferences followed, venues moved around the country depending on the organisers, and each had its highlights . One that I clearly recall was held in Durham Castle, where we were the guests of the University Vice Chancellor , a Group member. One attendee was a smiling , portly gentleman who demonstrated his liking for food , wine and tobacco. During conversation he was asked what he did for a living: came the reply ' I am the County Coroner' . They were happy days !

... AND FROM THE 'NINETIES Mike Maher joined the RPS in 1993, gaining his Licentiateship two years later with mainly architectural prints With my interest in historic buildings and artefacts I soon gravitated to the A&H Group , and my first contact was a long telephone conversation with John Adams , Chairman at that time . He invited me to a meeting the following Sunday at the Guildford Castle archaeological dig , where they were in the process of excavating one of King John 's hunting lodges . While there I saw the uncovering of an opening to what was believed to be the entrance of an early 12th century wine cellar. I was captivat ee .

John also encouraged me to bring along some of my prints for members to look at. They must have approved, as

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they took the lot for display at the Members' Exhibition being held that year at the Homiman Museum in London.

A year later I found myself on the Committee, which held quarterly meetings at the home of two very active members, John and Pauline Spence in Bromley, Kent.

These, for me, involved a round trip of some 130 miles, straight from the office, often in poor weather and much of it on the M25.

But looking back , I'm sure I enjoyed these meetings, and by 1997 I had become Group Chairman. That was also the year we had a superb Annual Conference at the Octagon, the RPS headquarters in Bath. On this occasion we were joined by members of NADFAS, who were in the process of photographing and documenting all 16,000 parish churches in England. I wonder if they ever completed their task ?

The Conference was accompanied by what I consider to be one of the finest Exhibitions that the Group has staged. It was hung in the Members ' Gallery and drew favourable comments from many visitors. Lectures by Gwil Owen ARPS on photographing artefacts in situ , and by Dr Richard Ingle FRPS on photographing interiors, with emphasis on the right exposure and development, completed the Saturday programme.

Sunday found us on a group visit to Lacock Abbey, where we were let loose with tripods in the house and grounds . Matters of Health & Safety, I'm sure, had not yet been invented , as no one at the house seemed concerned about the proximity of tripods to Mr Fox Talbot 's precious furniture and china !

More exhibitions ... and an unexpected meeting 1998 was another active year for the A & H Group . We were invited to send a delegation to represent the Group at the opening of the 'Bethlehem 2000 ' Exhibit ion of pre- and post-Christ artefacts at the British Museum. The delegation consisted of myself, Brian Tremain, Ken Woolverton and founding member the Reverend Robert Pitt. It was on this occasion that Bob Pitt introduced me to the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who was there with some prominent members of a Palestinian peace mission: one of them, a lady member, was interviewed on television the next day. A memorable evening.

Also in 1998 we had two more Exhibitions , one at Harrow Arts Centre in London, and one in conjunction with our Annual Conference at the Museum of English Rural Life at Reading University. Here we held a workshop , and were shown some remarkable 12x16 inch glas s plate negatives of landscapes and farms at the tum of the century , given to the museum by the Milk Marketing Board . There were several thousand negatives , on glass and film , spanning over I 00 years and all in decaying cardboard boxes waiting for volunteers to sort and catalogue them.

Another interesting but very hot day was had on a visit to the archaeological site of the Piddington Roman Villa in Northamptonshire. Our member Len Johnson, a regular 'digger ' there, showed us around then took us to the newly established site museum in the nearby village of Piddington , where we examined and photographed some of the finds. A number of you , I recall , took part in a similar visit in 2010.

My interest in historic buildings , especially prereformation churches , continues. And though today I prefer to contact-print the images using revived Victorian processes, I wish the Group every success for the future in this digital age.

A Glimpse of Heaven Medieval wall paintings in our churches are more than just picture stories from the Bible. Roger Rosewell explains and illustrates their many meanings and interpretations

Medieval paintings above the chancel arch at St Peter's church in Raunds, Northants.

Anyone who explores or photographs the interiors of England's historic medieval churches and cathedrals will sooner or later discover traces of medieval wall paintings.

Though many of these remnants are fragmentary and . indecipherable, enough good examples survive to highlight both the skill and versatility of the artists who made them, and the scale of losses that have occurred since the religious reformations of the sixteenth century outlawed such imagery.

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Traditionally these paintings, like the stained glass windows in churches of all periods, have been described as picture books for the illiterate, a way of telling bible stories to people who could not read. The truth, however, is far more complex - it is impossible to understand the stories through pictures alone.

A good example can be seen at the parish church of St Mary in Padbury, Buckinghamshire.

The image shows a wolf crouching beside a crowned head. What does it

mean? Is the wolf just about to steal the crown? Or has it already eaten the wearer ? The answer is neither.

Jn fact the crowned head belongs to St Edmund, a ninth-century Christian king who was killed by Danish invaders.

After shooting him with arrows 'until he resembled a porcupine', the attackers decapitated him and threw his head into a bramble patch. Far from stealing the crown, the wolf miraculously guarded the king's head until it was reunited with his body and the corpse eventually taken

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Where to see wall paintings

Fine examples can be found in Canterbury and Winchester cathedrals, and in Westminster Abbey in London.

Others are in parish churches, such as those in Chalgrave, Beds; Breage, Cornwall; Belchamp Walter, Essex; Kempley, Glos; Slapton and Raunds, both Northants; Sporle, Norfolk; South Newington and Chalgrove, Oxon; Little Wenham, Suffolk; and Llancarfan in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales.

Also worth exploring are Eton College chapel, and the chapel at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire.

Below: 'Lust' typifies the Seven Deadly Sins, here at Lfancarfan church in South Wales.

Top: Wolf and crowned head at St Mary's church , Padbury.

Above: The murder of St Thomas Beck.et, pictured at South Newington , Oxon.

to what subsequently became the Abbey of Bury St Edmund in Suffolk.

Like other visual arts of the Middle Ages (and today), the painting can only be understood if one already knows the complexities of this story, or if someone is on hand to explain it.

Evidently, then, wall paintings had many different purposes and functions in the medieval church. So-called Consecration crosses, often set within a circle, recall the ritual of consecrating or transforming a mere building into a holy place. Decorative patterns, ~uch as those that simulate neatly laid blocks- of regularly cut masonry, added a rich finish to any building, including even small parish churches. Selected stories from the Old Testament, particularly those drawn from Genesis highlighting the causes and consequences of sin, and others depicting Christ's miraculous

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birth to a virgin mother and His terrible death on the cross, were probably widespread and may have been used to help people visualise and remember the Christian story.

Images of saints, such as St Christopher and the Virgin Mary, were focal points for prayer and talismanic protection. Paintings of the Last Judgement, often found above the chancel arch, emphasised the inevitability of death and judgement and its outcome - salvation or eternal damnation. Pictures of the Seven Works of Mercy and the Seven Deadly Sins dramatised what it took to earn the former and avoid the latter !

Cautionary tales An interesting set of little-known

paintings, collectively known as the Warning against Transgressions, highlighted the sins of disrespecting the Sabbath, committing blasphemy, or disrupting church services by gossiping or jangling coins or ornaments during sermons and sacred rituals.

Rarer subjects included the Wheel of Fortune and the Wheel of Life, pictorial schemes which linked the human life cycle to medieval Christian ideas about history, time, death and judgement.

Understanding what subjects were depicted and when, how they were intended to be seen and by whom, where paintings were made, and whether they include texts or heraldic decoration, often helps to identify their original purpose and function.

Though medieval wall paintings often appear faded to modem viewers, remember that their original colours would have been much brighter and that they would have been seen alongside brilliant stained glass windows, life-like painted statues, richly inlaid tiled floors, and sumptuous damask altar cloths decked with glittering gold and silver plate: in short a glimpse of Heaven on a painted wall.

Mennaid, left, admires her reflectionin Slapton church, Northants.

St William,right, is in St Albans caJhedral.

Mural of the nativity over the chancel arch aJEast Shelford, Berks.

Roger Rosewell is ¡a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is the author of 'Medieval Wall Paintings', recently published by Shire Books, and of several other books about medieval monasteries and medieval art, including stained glass.

See:¡roger.rosewell@gmail.corn

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

7

Winwaedfield to Whitby •••

to Dracula: links across space and time

On 15 November in the year 654 of our modern calendar, there took place one of the most important battles ever fought in England. It pitted Panda of Marcia against Oswy of Northumbria, to determine whose Saxon kingdom would predominate in England, and which religion, Paganism or Christianity, would survive.

Historians have long sought to determine the exact site of this battle of Winwaedfield.

Text and pictures by Eric Houlder LRPS

The king of Mercia was Penda, now sometimes referred to as the last of the Pagans. He dominated a huge region and led several subject kings, principally the Christian king Aethelhere of East Anglia. His opponent Oswy was king of Northumbria, which consisted of the three original kingdoms of Bernicia, Elmet and Deira. Essentially Deira was east Yorkshire, Elmet was the area between the Wharfe and the Aire, and Bemicia comprised Northumberland, Durham and south-east Scotland. Confusingly, Oswy had a rival for the crown, as Deira and Elmet bad had their own royal family before being absorbed into Northumbria. Oswy's rival supported Penda, but he stayed away on the day of the battle.

Penda had long wished to absorb Northumbria into his kingdom, and indeed had fought several previous battles and killed earlier Northumbrian kings, including St Oswald.

Now, in 654 he mounted what was to be his final campaign .

He chased Oswy and his army northwards as far as Stirling, and extracted a huge amount of treasure as tribute. Then he set off southwards - rather later in the year than was wise .

Oswy, regretting giving up the treasure, set off in pursuit, and the armies met at Winwaedfield on 15 November. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle states the bare facts: "A.D. 655. This year Penda was slain at Winwaedfield, and thirty royal personages with him, some of whom were kings. One of them was /Ethelhere, brother of Anna, king of the East-Angles. The Mercians after this became Christians".

Other accounts depict the conflict as the bloodiest battle yet fought in England, and describe the many slain being 'lost in the flooded river'. So researchers are looking for a strategically important river crossing somewhere between Stirling and Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire!

However, in the fifteen hundred years since the battle, names and even topography have changed, so that the modem historian trying to locate the site faces problems . To historians in the Victorian era it was much simpler: look for somewhere with a similar name! To them, Whinmoor near Leeds became the assumed battlefield, and many street names like 'Penda's Way' reinforced the mistake.

A new search for the battlefield This was the situation when I was contacted by an old friend, Dr Sam Newton, an expert on the period. Sam knew that I had worked as a supervisor at Sutton Hoo, and so was familiar with the archaeology and history of the 7th century, and that I had often flo't'n as an aerial photographer. In addition I bad directed several Roman road digs and had become _something of a specialist on ancient roads.

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Site of the battle o/Winwaedfield, viewedtowardsthe north; the modernA639 road bridge is visiblein the lower left comer.

Zorki 4, 50mm lens. Ektachrome 8443 infraredfilm, No .12.filter

Independently we had reasoned that the only all-weather long distance highways extant in the 7th century were the Roman roads. Thus Winwaedfield must lie on the Roman road network. Sam Newton also explained that the old name of the River Went was Win or Wen. Waed means wade , so we were looking for a fording place on the Went. Thus we narrowed down the location of Winwaedfield to the spot where Roman road M28b (here the A639) crosses the Went in the parish of Wentbridge, near Pontefract in West Yorkshire. The modem road crosses the Went slightly upstream of where the Romans crossed it, suggesting that a Roman bridge had eventually collapsed necessitating a ford .

In support of this argument is the simple fact that the rival claimant, Whinmoor, is distant from the Roman road system and even further from the Went. Its river is the Cock Beck, of later notoriety.

Our first task was to obtain photographs of the battlefield.

By this time I was no longer flying, but luckily I still had many aerial images of the site, as I had directed a dig there following the discovery of a hoard of late Roman coins several years before. Archaeological photographs of the dig included some showing sub-Roman hoof-prints in the soft shoulder; these could be from the battle , but the odds are against it.

Major Saxon battlefields tend to be near an existing fortification - Iron Age, Romano-British, or even Dark Age. It was no surprise, then, when an earlier aerial image shot by the county unit showed a sub-rectangular enclosure just west of the river crossing. I directed a limited excavation here,

WhitbyAbbey. Withoutthe battle of Winwaed.field there would have been no abbey here, no town and no Gothfestival weekends.

The Roman road approachingthe 7'hcentury river crossing.

The sun came out briefly while I was photographingsomething else -1 had no time to remove the rangingpole ! The counterlight emphasisesthe texture of the cobbles and the hoof-printsin the soft shoulder.

Withoutthis road, there would have been no battle here.

Minolta X500, zoom lens @35mm;AgfachromeProfessional50S

which showed that it was either very late Roman or even Dark Age in date. The clinching evidence comprised fragments of much-abraded Roman tegulae and imbratae (roof tiles) beneath the primary silt of the enclosure ditch.

One doesn't need an archaeology degree to work this one out!

So Winwaedfield was finally located, and the existing aerial and excavation pictures helped to confirm the thesis.

Since then I have kept an eye on the site, and have taken new photographs in which the crop patterns display the Roman road heading towards the ancient crossing.

From Winwaedfieldto Whitby- and Dracula The consequences of Winwaedfield had a lasting effect.

Penda was killed, his army massacred or drowned; Oswy dedicated his daughter to the church and founded several monasteries, one of which was Whitby Abbey. Here, less than a generation later, was held the Synod of Whitby which determined the form "that Christianity would take in England for almost the next millennium. Oswy's abbey was destroyed

by Viking raiders, so the monastery pictured by Victorian photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe is of later date; it had in its tum been destroyed, firstly by Henry Vill, and more recently by the Kaiser's battlecruisers Derfflinger and Von der Tann in December 1914.

During the summer of 1890, the Irish writer Bram

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Stoker holidayed in Whitby. Here he wrote his gothic novel Dracula, based on the spooky ruined abbey and the nearby

parish church with its graveyard. His fictitious villain, in the shape of a large black dog or wolf, came ashore at Whitby from a Russian schooner, the Demeter, which ran aground in the harbour with all of its crew dead. Dracula took up daytime residence in a suicide's grave in the churchyard.

This later fictional 'history' is the basis of the popular Goth Weekends held in Whitby each spring and autumn. But few of the 'Goths' taking part realise that their presence is the direct result of a battle fought eighty miles and fourteen and a half centuries away ...

Today, unlike Whitby, the site of Winwaedfield is a lonely spot, with nothing but traffic on the nearby modem road to disturb the peace of the thousands who perished in the flooded Went. Just downstream is Wentbridge, the original location of the real Robyn Rode legend. History is layered deep in this spot, a mere two miles from where I write.

(Indeed, the historian Michael Wood recently located the great tenth-century battle of Brunanburh at Wentbridge - but that's another story!)

This is, perhaps, the true magic of our calling - making links across the centuries, and recording them for future generations. I am proud that my images have contributed to documenting this aspect of our national history.

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Sombre remnants of our Military Heritage

Just 25 years ago, in January 1989, the United States 303rd Tactical Missile Wing was finally deactivated and departed from an East Anglian site less publicised but as important as Greenham Common in Berkshire.

Cindy Eccles re-visits RAF Molesworth and records some sombre relics of the Cold War era.

Tucked away in the flat Cambridgeshire farmland is RAF Molesworth, with a long and well-documented history as an airfield that dates back to the early 1900s. RAF Molesworth played an important role for the Allies during World War II, but its designation in 1981 as host to sixty-four mobile, nuclear-tipped, ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) earned Molesworth a more contentious place in Cold War history.

Together with the better known RAF Greenham Common, RAF Molesworth became a focal point for anti-war and antinuclear protesters. Despite the protests, remaining vestiges of World War II such as runways, taxiways, hardstands and support structures were removed; in their place were built four hardened bunkers, a watch tower, and extensive perimeter security measures, to become the GLCM Alert and Maintenance Area. The U.S. government deployed nuclear missiles to RAF Molesworth in 1986, and the 303rd Tactical Missile Wing, supported by the 87th Tactical Missile Squadron, was activated in December that same year.

Each of the four bunkers housed one BGM-109G Gryphon Transporter Erector Launcher and sixteen missiles; the system was complemented by two launch control centres and a MAN AG 8 x 8 tractor. During bunker operations, massive hydraulic pistons at both ends raised and lowered thick, steelplated bay doors over moat-like trenches. When closed, the bay doors sat against steel plates with specially designed rubber seals to create an airtight environment; each bunker contained an extensive air-filtration system to ensure survivability in the event of an accident or incoming missile attack.

One bunker, in addition to its missile system, hosted the Command Centre. A kitchen area, a bathroom with a single

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Opposite: Isolated in the East Anglian landscape, Bunkers 26 and 27 and the Ground Control Tower, photographed from atop Command Bunker No 24.

Below it is an interwr view of the Control Tower.

Above: Approach bay into Bunker 27, doors lowered.

To the right, the bunker's protective earthworks, and the Control Tower.

Right: Generating plant inside Command Bunker 24.

shower stall, a conference room with massive air vents, and rooms able to be used as sleeping quarters allowed for a more permanent presence.

A quarter century of silence Today, 25 years after their abandonment, pristine industrialsized air filtration systems, generators, compressors and pressure gauges lie dormant in the upper level above the bay, while critical operational components sit behind heavy steel doors. Aside from a little dust, there is nothing to indicate the age of the units - except perhaps for their manual control knobs instead of modem touch-screen monitors.

Hosting cruise missiles at an active airbase presented security challenges, not just from Cold War adversaries but also from opponents to nuclear weapons. Security personnel would have manned sentry guard towers, and communicated with a subterranean concrete bunker nest and a U-shaped concrete firing position probably intended for an M113 armoured personnel carrier and .50 calibre M2 machine gun.

As you approach the missile site today, the most visible remaining structure, apart from the hardened bunkers, is the aqua-tinted glass cube sitting atop its 150ft tall ground control tower. From here, a security officer would have kept a close watch on the monitors and dutifully managed the security control system, which probably displayed a myriad of flashing and solid lights on its flat panels . Today the tower plays host merely to pigeons and other fowl which enter through the open roof top or part-open windows.

Decades of bird waste, feathers and carcasses now coat the once state-of-the-art equiprl\ent.

During its operational heyday, the entire site would have been abuzz with security patrols, safety inspectors and

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

blinding perimeter lighting, alongside its routine military base life. In the event, the GLCM mission was short-lived: in 1987 the United States and the former Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. This led to the removal of all nuclear missiles from the base by the end of October 1988, and the 303rd Tactical Missile Wing and 87th Tactical Missile Squadron were deactivated on 30 January 1989.

Twenty-five years on, Molesworth's bunkers, control tower, machinery and perimeter security now sit deserted, decaying, but still stark reminders of the Cold War. Group member Cindy Eccles is an American anthropologist now working in the U.K. She contributes to a number of international white papers on ethnic matters, but her true passion remains the archaeology of the American Great Basin and Southwest.

Her photographs illustrating this article were made on Canon digital cameras using J0-22mm, 18-135mm and 75300mm Canon lenses.

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A Treasury of Church Silver Photographing silver artefacts calls for skilled setting up and lighting, especially when some of them may be four or five hundred years old.

Mike Trendell FRPS describes how he photographed the priceless silver in the Treasury of Norwich Cathedral

Clockwise from above: Early 15,,,century Flemish pyx, to hold consecrated bre(!d.

1607 jlagon,given to Westacre parish by the Lord Mayor of London.

Steeple cup, made by Thomas Flint in 1619 for St Andrews, Norwich.

Silver-gilt cup of 1567,from the parish of Wood Dailing.

Gressenhall collecting shoe of 1728; its design hides donations from sight.

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The Treasury, a gift from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, was opened in 1973 by the Prime Warden of the Company. Situated in the 151hcentury Reliquary Arch in the cathedral's north choir aisle, its purpose is to provide the safe display of silver, no longer in use, from parishes in the Diocese.

Almost 200 items are on show, and some 15 years ago I was asked to photograph these, together with the silver in current use in the Cathedral. In doing this I had the invaluable assistance of Nigel Bumphrey, a Freeman of the Company of Goldsmiths. For the photography we made a tent-like structure of thin muslin within a wire frame.

Lighting was a combination of low-level ambient light and flash - a main unit facing the tent, its light bounced off a white board, and a slave set at half power on one side. Exposures were 6-8 seconds at t'9.5on Fujichrome 100 ASA film .

The camera was a Canon EOS, with a 28mm Jens for the larger objects (up to 50cm high), and a 60mm zoom for the smaller items. The results were very satisfactory, and the transparencies are now in the keeping of Norwich Cathedral Library. For this article I scanned the original slides; but the photographic techniques used then are equally applicable in today's digital era.

Design and editorial: Media Management Services.

Printed by Lakeside Printing Ltd, Tonbridge, Kent