FOUR hundred-year-old pottery, pipes and glassware have been unearthed by Enfield Archaeological Society.

Volunteers found hundreds of shards of pottery, fragments of glass vessels and ten clay pipes at Forty Hall, Forty Hill, Enfield.

They were unearthed in a midden, or rubbish dump, located in an old drain at the front of the hall and mixed in with animal bones and oyster shells. The drain's delights were found as the group investigated how to run electricity cables into Forty Hall without damaging its foundations.

It is a bumper haul for the group, which is staffed mainly by volunteers under the direction of professional archaeologist Dr Martin Dearne a lecturer at Birkbeck University, in London, and a resident of Junction Road, Edmonton.

He said: "We knew it was an exciting find as soon as we saw it. It's not that common, perhaps one dig out of 20 will find something like that."

Dr Dearne said the most impressive find was the top of a piece of moulded glassware shaped into the head of a classical woman wearing a crown.

Dr Dearne said it had probably been the top of a liqueur or ointment bottle that may well have been made in Venice and imported to England.

He said: "It really is very, very nice. This is from the table of a rich man, as are a lot of the things we found. But we've also found evidence of servant life, such as the clay pipes."

Members of the group stood around in excitement as treasure after treasure was unearthed at the hall on Saturday.

As each one was brought up, Dr Dearne was able to immediately identify what it was part of and the date range it fell into.

Together the items will build up a picture of what both the building and its residents were like at the time and how the hall developed through the centuries.

The excavations will now be washed, assessed, identified and photographed and be the subject of an academic paper by Dr Dearne.

They will then be displayed at Forty Hall's museum, run by Enfield Council's museum service. An exhibition of the treasures is already being planned.