ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



AMBRESBURY BANKS. This fortified position, lying about 2 miles 

 from Loughton Camp, we may next describe, although its relics show it 

 to be somewhat later in date. 



Variously known as Amesbury, Ambersbury and Ambresbury, 1 it is 

 situated in the forest, but close to the modern high road at the fourteenth 

 milestone on the way from London to Epping, partly in the latter parish 

 and partly in that of Waltham Holy Cross. 



Although at one time this earthwork, from its somewhat angular 

 form was supposed to have been constructed by the Romans, the exca- 

 vation which was carried out by the Essex Field Club in 1881 under the 

 direction of the late General Pitt-Rivers led that eminent authority to 

 conclude that the camp was of British origin, but whether it was erected 

 before or after the Roman conquest he considered could only be decided 

 by further exploration. The excavation which was made consisted of 

 a section near the centre of the north-western side of the camp. The 

 objects found comprised several fragments of imperfectly-baked pottery 

 without ornamentation and a few flint flakes.* The original ditch was 

 found, like that of Loughton Camp, to be triangular and pointed at the 

 bottom, a feature somewhat unusual in ditches of British camps. The 

 escarp rises at an angle of 45 and the counter-scarp probably at the 

 same angle ; the fosse was 22 feet wide at the top and 10 feet deep, 

 and as the annexed plan shows has become silted up 7 feet from the 

 bottom.* 



NAVESTOCK : Fortification Wood. About 4 acres are enclosed by 

 a low bank, with shallow moat traceable on three sides and part of the 

 fourth. At the southern end of the enclosure is a deep excavation 

 forming a pond nearly across from east to west, possibly more recent 

 work than the banks. 



During some period long past, the bank was more exposed to 

 weather and it is consequently reduced in height, while its moat or fosse 

 has been partially filled up by the deposit of leaves of many summers. 

 The dense growth of tangled wood has of late prevented further 

 destruction of the bank, but at the same time it renders detailed exam- 

 ination of the work very difficult. 



The late Rev. S. Coode Hore, in a paper read before the Essex 

 Field Club in 1894, said he was 'strongly inclined to think this earth- 

 work and wood may be identified with a certain wood known in the 

 year 1222 as The Defence of Navestock. . . .' We find in an eccle- 

 siastical visitation of that date known as the Domesday of St. Paul's 4 

 the following entry : * Stephen son of Robert holds . . . half an acre, 

 juxta defensum de Nastok . . .' 



The expression might suggest the existence of some military work 



1 Some local guides add to the attraction of the camps by styling this the Roman Camp, and the 

 Loughton earthwork Boadicea's Camp, but there is no authority for either statement. 

 1 The flakes may have belonged to the soil when the rampart was constructed. 

 8 See Essex Field Club Transactions, ii. 55-68. 

 Domes Jay of St. PauPs, Camden Soc. 1858. 



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