246 REPORT—1883. 
Sphagnum, Hypericum elodes, and other marsh-loving plants) occupies a 
small valley, which leads up into the interior of the camp. At the spot 
where the bog seems to originate is a small circular pit, which has every 
appearance of being a water-well of artificial construction. At present, 
however, we have no direct evidence to connect this well with the 
original makers of the camp. It is now choked with leaves, &c., but it 
still appears to supply water to feed the bog, the quantity being largely 
augmented in winter and spring by the surface drainage from the higher 
ground at the northern part of the camp. The ridge of ground on which the 
rampart runs somewhat contracts the limits of the bog at the north-west 
corner of the camp, and a little outside the line of entrenchments a bank 
can easily be recognised running across the morass, leaving a narrow 
‘gate’ or floodway towards the east. This bank is perhaps the remnant 
of an ancient dam, by which a head of water could have been retained in 
the interior of the camp for the use of the inhabitants, a constant supply 
being furnished by the artificial ‘ well’ before noticed. These statements 
must be put forward somewhat hypothetically ; no cutting has yet been 
made through the ‘dam,’ nor has the ‘well’ been explored, and conse- 
quently the evidence is wanting which would conclusively prove these 
structures to be coeval with the camp itself. But they are, nevertheless, 
very interesting, and cannot be passed over in any description of the 
place. 
Two well-defined, and perhaps old, entrances exist at the northern 
end of the camp, through one of which a ‘driftway ’ runs—a very hard 
and good path, which leaves the camp by an outlet at the southern slope 
to descend to Debden Slade, and so to Loughton. A good and old path, 
branching out from the first, runs outside the northern and eastern ram- 
parts also to Loughton. The three inlets to the camp appear to be 
ancient, but at present we have no means of fixing their age relatively to 
the ramparts. 
Several pits of varying size exist in the camp, and they are numerous 
on the high-level ground, stretching from the head of the little valley on 
the west round the northern aspect of the ramparts. It is possible that 
some of these pits may owe their origin to the exertions of sand-seekers ; 
but many of them must be of considerable antiquity, as they are densely 
overgrown with trees, and we are disposed to think that these at least 
may have been constructed by the occupiers of the camp, and haye had 
some connection with their habits of life. The regular circular form of 
some of these pits, and the distance of the site of the camp from any high 
road (for the present Epping New Road is, of course, very modern), by 
which vehicles could reach this densely-wooded district, are circumstances 
sufficient to throw grave doubt upon the suggestion that they were made 
by gravel-diggers. A cutting was made in one of the pits within the 
camp; and in the silt, about 2 feet down, an artificial black flint flake, 
perfectly unweathered, was found (No. 38). It is hoped that some fur- 
ther examination of these pits may be made, pending which any hypo- 
theses as to their age or probable uses must necessarily be little more 
than guesswork. 
Mr. Cowper has called attention to some banks on the ground 
between the Ambresbury and Loughton Camps, and similar works have 
recently been detected on the high ridge by the ‘King’s Oak,’ to the 
west of the Loughton Camp. Owing to the denseness of the forest, an 
accurate survey of these banks would be somewhat difficult, and it has 
