58 EPPING FOREST. 



of Epping, and close to the high road (see route N) ; 

 the latter on a buttress of the ridge to the north 

 of Earl's Path (see route P). Antiquarians have 

 been much exercised about the origin and date of 

 these earthworks ; but their speculations have been 

 to a great extent set at rest by the explorations 

 conducted by the Essex Field Club in 1881 and 

 1882, under the able guidance of General Pitt- 

 Rivers, and other experienced members of the 

 club. Popular tradition attributes the origin of 

 Ambresbury Banks to Queen Boadicea, and places 

 the site of her final overthrow, by Suetonius in this 

 neighbourhood ; but in the opinion of those best 

 qualified to give one, there is no reliable evidence 

 of this. On the other hand the verdict of General 

 Pitt-Rivers is that this camp is undoubtedly of 

 British origin, but whether erected before or after 

 the Roman Conquest there is no sufficient evidence 

 to show. The data upon which he founds this 

 conclusion are, first, that the configuration of the 

 ramparts is adapted to the features of the ground, 

 instead of being constructed geometrically, which 

 is the distinguishing feature of Roman camps ; and 

 secondly, the nature of the fragments of pottery 

 and flint chips which were discovered in digging a 

 section' through the rampart and ditch. Those 

 fragments which were discovered under the ram- 

 part itself, and upon the ancient surface-line, are 

 necessarily of the same date as, or older than, the 

 camp itself; and their character indicates a British 

 origin. If the Romans had had any hand in the 

 structure, it is all but certain that some remains 

 indicating a higher civilisation would have been 

 found in this part of the excavation. The height 

 of the rampart appears to have been originally 10 



