A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



in Navestock, but that the word defensum was applied to any enclosure 

 or fenced ground (see Bailey's Dictionary, 1733). 



We may fairly conclude that so long ago as 1222 the area was 

 producing timber, but whether the earthwork had previously an inde- 

 pendent existence or was simply formed to protect the wood is not 

 apparent. 



SAFFRON WALDEN : The Repell or Faille Ditches. The Faille, 

 Repell, Peddle or Paigle Ditches which are the remains of a Roman 

 camp or of a British oppidum are situated on ground gently rising from 

 the course of the Slade, a stream once of sufficient volume to give added 

 security to the north of the earthworks. On all sides was probably a 

 rampart of earth with its ditch or moat outside and a slighter ditch 

 within. Of this defensive work only part remains, about 480 feet on 

 the west and 500 feet on the south sides. Buildings, gardens, etc., have 

 largely destroyed the inner ditch and altered the levels of the interior 

 space ; the eastern side of the oppidum is completely covered with build- 

 ings. Within the area was found a large number of skeletons and 

 many objects which had been buried or subsequently thrown aside on 

 the site. 1 



The antiquities discovered when the skeletons were unearthed do 

 not fall within our province to describe, as the cemetery is generally 

 thought to belong to the Saxon period, although we consider some of 

 the pottery indicates ' late Celtic ' days, or at all events the influence of 

 the art of that period, in its decoration. However that may be, there is 



no doubt of the important 

 fact that beneath the burials 

 referred to were found traces 

 of earlier occupants of the 

 site, probably the men who 

 made the early defensive ram- 

 part and moat. 



LITTLEBURY : Ring Hill 

 Camp. The earthwork is 

 about 1,100 yards in circum- 

 ference, occupies the eastern 

 end of a chalk range on the 

 western side of Lord Bray- 

 brooke's park at Audley End, 

 and covers about 1 8 acres of 

 ground. It is an oval fortifi- 

 cation originally provided with 

 rampart and exterior fosse, but 

 the construction of a drive 

 above the fosse has largely obliterated the inner bank. Though known to 



1 H. Ecroyd Smith in Essex Arch. Soc. Trans, n.s. vol. ii. gives a full account of the discoveries, a 

 plan of the cemetery and numerous illustrations of the finds. 



280 



Hill Camp 



l.i|-Heburi| . 



near Audleij End 



ESSEX 



u ^sg^sg -v 



