EXPLORATION OF SOME " RED-HILLS " IN ESSEX. 177 



We also cut into the remains of a Red-hill at Fen Farm (on 

 the same map) inside the sea-wall, facing Mersea flats. Red 

 earth and rough pottery were found, but little else. It appeared 

 to have been very much disturbed, and Mr. Griggs, the farmer, 

 said that many hundreds of loads of the burnt earth from it had 

 been spread over the fields. And we examined (but only 

 superficially) the site of a very extensive " hill " on Reeves Hall 

 Farm. This had been ploughed over, making the soil of the 

 field quite ruddy ; fragments of the characteristic pottery could 

 be found scattered over the whole field. 



In 1903 our attention was called by Mr. George Cross to a 

 Red-hill, or rather ridge, on his farm, Lee Wick, St. Osyth. 

 His orchard covers part of it, and it runs N. and S. for a long 

 way into the fields, which are reddened with the burnt clay. A 

 deep trench dug at one side of the orchard gave section of 

 the red earth, with the familiar kinds of rough pottery, T-pieces 

 and wedges. Only two or three pieces of Romano-British 

 pottery were found. 



We know of a great many Red-hills in the Mersea, Peldon, 

 and adjoining districts, but I have noticed those only which we 

 have carefully examined. 



The original description of our Essex Red-hills, from which 

 -all later accounts have been compiled, is that by the late Henry 

 Stopes, F.G.S., in the Essex Naturalist for 1887 (Vol. i., 

 pp. 96-105) under the title of " The Salting Mounds of Essex." 

 In this paper, Mr. Stopes gives details of the only practical 

 exploration (at Peldon) of Red-hills previous to our investi- 

 gations described above. It is quite unnecessary to enter here 

 into any general account of the Red-hills, inasmuch as Mr. 

 Stopes has done this admirably, and all enquirers are referred to 

 his paper. Mr. Stopes' descriptions are quite in agreement with 

 our own observations, and he found many of the same kind of 

 objects, although he makes no mention of the " T-shaped " 

 pieces of clay. 3 He concluded, as we did, that the " hills " went 

 down to the undisturbed clay (? London Clay), and he noticed 

 the apparently uniform character of the burnt earth. In the 

 paper (at p. 103) is a map showing the distribution of the then 



3 Some of Mr. Stopes' specimens are in the Essex Museum, having formed part of Mr 

 Dalton's geological collections. 



