Library Archives

The Library holds a wide variety of archives, in the form of documents, prints, drawings, parish documents and maps.  These are not held at Abinger, but are located in a variety of storage locations.  The files below are scans of documents held by the Library containing detailed listings of these holdings.  These PDF files are indexed and can be searched, although the variable nature of the original documents means that not all keywords will be found by a search. The documents are also listed individually in the Library catalogue. It is hoped to publish digitised scans of some of the collection on this website in due course.

Grinling-Collins Collection

The Lithics section of the Prehistoric Group recently reassessed the Grinling-Collins collection of lithic tools held in GuildfordMuseum. Little is known about Charles Grinling (1860-1947) (below) who moved to ‘Merriedown’, Peaslake at the end of WWI, except that he is said to have excavated at Holmbury Hill (pers. Comm.: K Winser), although there does not appear to be any record of this activity. In due course he met and encouraged Patrick Collins in his interest in lithics. Collins (c1921-1991) lived at Weyside, Wonham Way, Peaslake, and joined the Surrey Archaeological Society in 1935, eventually becoming a well known and respected archaeologist in Northern Ireland. He moved from ReadingMuseum to join the newly established Archaeological Survey of Northern Ireland in 1950, and lectured at Queen’s University Belfast. Collins was primarily responsible for prehistoric sites and carried out a number of pioneering excavations on megaliths. He was interested in ancient technology and an international authority on the production methods of flint tools. His memory was honoured in 2003 when the public archive facility, Waterman House, in Belfast was opened with the naming of the research room as ‘The Pat Collins Reading Room’.

Hooper Collection

During 2010 the lithics section of the Prehistoric Group continued to reassess lithics collections held by GuildfordMuseum. One of the more interesting collections was that of Dr Wilfrid Hooper, LL D, FSA (1882-1950). There were 86 bags and boxes which included examples of lithic forms from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age collected largely from parishes between Dorking and Redhill. These items represent only a portion of a collection amassed by an enthusiastic prehistorian and member of Surrey Archaeological Society. Other parts of his collection are held in the Museum of the Holmesdale Natural History Club and in private hands.

Frere Lithics Collection

Over the last few months members of the Lithics working group (composed from members of the Prehistoric Group) have been cataloguing a collection of lithics from Sanderstead, which was amassed by Mrs NG (Agnes Barbara) Frere during and just after the Second World War. They were deposited in GuildfordMuseum in 1965.

Mangles Collection

The lithics section of the Prehistoric Group has recently reassessed the Mangles Collection held by GuildfordMuseum. This collection has now been itemised on a spreadsheet held by the group and used by the museum in the formation of a database. There are over 100 implements, a third of which are unprovenanced, and the rest of the collection is largely from sites in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, with a number of scrapers, axe fragments, blades and hammerstones; mostly attributable to the broad dating range of the Neolithic. Amongst the collection from Sussex is a number of implements from Cissbury including a probable Early Neolithic handaxe which looks like a Palaeolithic ficron, and induced much discussion.

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