A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT AT 

 SKITTS HILL, BRAINTREE, ESSEX. 



By the Rev. J. W. KENWORTHY, Vicar of Braintree. 



With Remarks on the Arch^ological Objects, by 

 F. W. Reader ; on the Geology of the District, 

 BY T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., F. Anthrop. Inst. ; and 

 ON the Osteological Specimens by E. T. Newton, 

 F.R.S.' 



[Read February 25th, 1899.'] 



The District, and Preliminary Remarks. 



ON the south side of Braintree there is a small stream, or 

 rivulet, mentioned in recent books and spoken of in 

 common parlance by various names — the Pod ; Pods Brook ; 

 the Bran ; the Brain, &c. In Muilman's History it is called 

 the " Stour." We read, "The river vStour waters this parish, 

 over which there are three bridges — one on the road to Witham; 

 another on the road to Chelmsford ; and a third on that to 

 Dunmow." It is below the first of these bridges that in very 

 early times — in fact, soon after the cutting down of the valley to 

 its lowest depths — that a Lake or " Broad " began to be formed 

 by the silting up of the stream along nearly the whole of the 

 present plain between the narrow hills which here form a gorge 

 half-a-mile or so in length. 



View of the Skitts Hill Site of the Lake Dwellings {Plate I.) 



The view is taken looking N.W., and shows the extreme end of the 

 excavations for brickearth ; beyond the pahngs the present river runs. The 

 building on the highest ground to the right isaig feet above Ordnance Datum. 

 The water shown in the photograph stands at 6ft. 6in. from the surface soil. 

 Below the level of this water, from 6ft. 6in. to gft. is the bed of slime, mud, 

 peat and wood containing the relics of the lake-dwellers. In the level where 

 the men are working are found Roman tiles, and above this level horse-shoes 

 and modern pottery. In front of the photograph the heaps are of wood-ashes 

 and refuse of long-continued iires for domestic purposes, thrown out of the pit 

 where the water now stands. 



The excavation is on the right slope of the foot of the valley ; to this 

 slope the wheel-barrow is directed. 



These excavations wei"e begun about 30 years ago, at about a thousand 

 yards lower down the stream. J.W.K. 



I [The .Author and Editor have to acknowledge with gratitude the great assistance of the 

 above-named gentlemen in the revision of this paper and in preparing it for the press. Mr. 

 Reader has not only visited the locality several times, but has consulted with Mr. Kenworthy 

 and the e.xpert authorities at the Geological and British Museums, and has also prepared 

 all the illustrations. Mr Holmes has written and advised on the geological questions arising, 

 and has visited the spot on two occasions. Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., has in the kindest 

 way examined all the osteological specimens. The appended initials of the above-named 

 gentlemen indicate any notes added by them to the text. In addition to the above Mr. C. H. 

 Read, F.S.A., and Mr. F. W. Rudler, F G.S., have most courteously advised on special 

 points.- Ed ] 



