Category: Essex

Ivy Chimneys, Witham, Essex

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Settlement (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TL 811 136

Archaeology & History

Sadly this site has been built over, as happens so much down south it seems (regional archaeo’s, architects, councillors and businesses are very much in each other pockets – even those who allege ‘pagan’ allegiances to ancient sites – hence the demise of ancient sites). Which is a pity, as it sounded a decent spot!  Essex county council employee, Robin Turner, forwarded a summary of the findings from the site to The Prehistoric Society following an assessment prior to its destruction at the end of the 1970s.  The brief account of what was there told:

“A small area of the site contained part of an Iron Age settlement, probably of village proportions.  Three hut circles, two possible hut circles and two square four-post structures were found, as well as a number of ditched enclosures.  The main settlement area was enclosed by a multi-phased series of associated palisades and ditches, the earliest of which had a causeway and external protective fence, which may have served as a defended entrance.  One of the four-post structures, c.3m square, lay immediately inside the gap, and may have been a gatehouse or lookout.  Three main areas were enclosed outside the settlement and are thought to have represented a stock enclosure, a working area and a field.  Some evidence of pottery production, weaving, thatching and metalworking was found.  The presence of unusually large quantities of deer and dog remains may have had some religious significance which carried on into the Roman period.”

Turner and his team “hoped to investigate the insdie of the settlement area more thoroughly in 1980,”but I aint been able to get a copy of the report.  There was also found remains of a Roman temple here, including artifacts that were thought to have been offerings to the gods or local spirits.

References:

  1. Champion, T.C., (ed.), “Summary Excavation Reports,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 46, 1980.
  2. Turner, Robin, “Excavations of an Iron Age Settlement and Roman Religious Complex at Ivy Chimneys, Witham, Essex, 1978-83,” East Anglian Archaeology Monograph no. 88, 1999.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Springfield Cursus, Chelmsford, Essex

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Cursus Monument (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TL 735 084

Also Known as:

  1. Springfield Barnes Cursus

Archaeology & History

The first cursus monument discovered in Essex, archaeologists were fortunate when they came to excavate the site in 1979 as they found it almost complete.  A rarity these days!  Close to the Springfield Lyons causewayed enclosure monument, the cursus here was some 45 yards across and 750 yards long.  Like a number of other cursuses, the Springfield one was dead straight all the way down, running northeast to southwest with squared terminii at both ends. (of the Bi category, as Loveday called them)  And it appears to have had quite a long period of use.

Springfield Cursus (painting by Frank Gardiner)

The ditch that constitutes the very outline of the cursus — averaging between 3-4 feet in depth all round — was cut into the earth in the neolithic period.  It had small ‘entrances’ at certain points along its longer axis, both on the east and west sides.  The flat ends of the cursus were both ‘closed’, without entrances or breaks of any kind.  Some depositional remains were found scattered at different spots along the course of the ditch: neolithic pottery and flints in both the northern and eastern ditches, but archaeologists were unsure whether these deposits were left at the time the monument was in use, or at a later period — though it seemed consensus opinion that the deposits were from a period when the cursus was in use.  Charcoal remains were also found, but these were associated with an internal timber circle that was erected within the northeastern end of the cursus.  The timber circle was found to have consisted of 14 upright wooden posts arranged in a near-complete ring, some 26 metres in diameter.  It seems highly likely that this part of the monument had some ritual or ceremonial function relating to the dead (“mortuary practices” is the term used at the moment!).

Later excavation work here in 1984 found there to be various other linear and pit-like features within the confines of the monument, and what seemed to be the remains of a barrow beyond its eastern end.

Archaeologist David McOmish (2003), thought that “alignment is also significant,” saying that the “Springfield Cursus, 700 metres long, is aligned on a smaller enclosure some 300 metres away.”  The alignment potential here was first suggested by Pennick & Devereux (1989), albeit pointing “to the village of Wexford just over two miles to the southwest.”  McOmish also suggested there may have been some an astronomical reason for the alignment of the monument NE-SW, but I’m not aware whether this has been explored further.

The creation of these huge monuments had obvious relationships with human death rites, the spirits of trees, and celestial gods.  But much more research is needed at these sites if we’re to find out more about the nature of these prehistoric giants in the landscape.

References:

  1. Buckley, D.G., Hedges, John & Brown, N., “Excavations at a Neolithic Cursus, Springfield, Essex, 1979-85,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 67, 2001.
  2. Hedges, John D. & Buckley, D.G., Springfield Cursus and the Cursus Problem, Essex County Council 1981.
  3. Loveday, Roy, Inscribed Across the Landscape: The Cursus Enigma, Tempus: Stroud 2006.
  4. McOmish, David, ‘Cursus: Solving a 6000-year-old Puzzle’, in British Archaeology, 69, March 2003.
  5. Pennick, Nigel & Devereux, Paul, Lines on the Landscape, Hale: London 1989.

Links:

  1. Unlocking Essex’s Past: The Springfield Cursus and Associated Remains

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Lexden Tumulus, Colchester, Essex

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Tumulus:  OS Grid Reference – TL 975 247

Getting Here

Fortunately for the person who lives here, this much overgrown and denuded remains of a fabled tumulus is in their garden!  The mound is divided by a hedge in the back garden, up near the bend of where Fitzwalter Road meets St. Clare Road and the school field backs onto them.  I’ve no idea whether the people who own the gardens are OK with you visiting the site or not. If you wanna look at it, I s’ppose the only thing to do is knock on their door and ask!

Archaeology & History

Plan of the Lexden tumulus (Laver, Archaeologia 1927)

Ascribed as late Iron Age, some of the finds here are distinctly Romano-British.  Indeed, excavations here by P.G. Laver in 1924 uncovered rich Belgic remains akin to the chariot burials found in East Yorkshire! (though not quite as good as them)  There was a considerable collection of gold, silver and other metalwork remains here, along with considerable remains of pottery aswell.  It seems there was a tradition of burials here, with some evidence dating from the Bronze Age — but the majority of remains found in the excavations were from the much later period.  One account attributes the burial mound to have held the body of Cunobelin; the other, the body of Addedomaros of the Trinovante tribe.

Folklore

Quoting from an earlier source (A.H. Verrill’s Secret Treasure, 1931), in Leslie Grinsell’s (1936) fine early survey on British prehistoric tombs, he described the legend of there being hidden treasure here, saying that locally there was

“a belief that it was the burial place of a king in golden armour, with weapons and a gold table.”

But was this legend described anywhere before P.G. Laver’s excavation of the site in 1924…?  It would be very intriguing if we could find this out!

References:

  1. Grinsell, Leslie V., Ancient Burial Mounds of England, Methuen: London 1936.
  2. Laver, P.G., ‘The excavation of a Tumulus at Lexden, Colchester,’ in Archaeologia journal, no.76, 1927.

Links:

  1. Unlocking Essex’s Past: The Lexden Tumulus & Associated Cemetery

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ring Hill, Littlebury, Essex

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Hillfort:  OS Grid Reference – TL 515 382

Also Known as:

Getting Here

You can’t really miss this.  Roughly halfway along the B1383 London Road between Littlebury and Wendens Ambo, just above Chestnut Avenue, a dirttrack on the west-side of the road takes you up and onto the wooded hillside. Where the track splits in two, head straightforward up and into the trees until it opens into the clearing. You’re there!

Archaeology & History

This great monument had already been described several times before the Domesday Book had even been thought about!  Indeed, it seems that the town itself gets its name from the hillfort! (Reaney 1935)  Nowadays the place is just about overgrown and covered in woodland.  You cna make out various undulations where parts of the ditches are apparent, but it could do with a clean-out.  Thought to be Iron Age, Nick Thomas (1977) described the site as,

“Oval in plan, this fort follows the contour of the hill it encloses, protecting about 16½ acres… the defences consist of a bank, ditch and counterscarp bank, of which only the ditch is well-preserved.”

References:

  1. Reaney, Paul, The Place-Names of Essex, Cambridge University Press 1935.
  2. Thomas, Nicholas, Guide to Prehistoric England, Batsford: London 1977.

Links:

  1. Ring Hill, Littlebury

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


North Ring, Mucking, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex

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Enclosure (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TQ 675 811

Archaeology & History

North Ring, Mucking (after Brown, 2001)

This large circular enclosure, measuring about 120 feet across, seemed to be a small settlement with several internal structures (fences, pits, cremations and a sunken-floored structure) that was first excavated in 1978 and described as a Bronze Age enclosure.  Akin to a henge monument in some ways, this small settlement site had two entrances: one on the east and the other opposite on its west side.  However, the main ‘entrance’ was on the eastern (sunrise) side, where post-holes laid a pathway over the ditch and into the structure itself.

The excavation on the eastern side of site revealed two periods of construction with associated structures, including three circular buildings.  Some excavations to the east produced evidence for a range of contemporary activities.  The assemblage of Late Bronze Age material included pottery, metalwork, cremation remains, sickle moulds and equipment for salt production.  For further info and imagery, see the Link below.

References:

  1. Bond, Dermot, Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex, East Anglian Archaeology 1988.
  2. Brown, N., “The Late Bronze Age Enclosure at Springfield Lyons in its Landscape Context,” in Essex Archaeology & History, volume 32, 2001.

Links

  1. North Ring, Mucking

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Springfield Lyons, Chelmsford, Essex

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Enclosure:  OS Grid Reference – TL 7357 0818

Archaeology & History

Springfield Lyons enclosure (after Brown, 2001)

We’ve known that there was an excessive number of prehistoric archaeological sites in and around the Chelmsford region for quite a long time now, but defining precisely the age and nature of the finds takes some doing! (as you’d expect)  It hasn’t helped, of course, with the housing estates and other ecologically destructive building operations in and around the area, screwing up a more accurate and patient assessment of the material there.  And this predicament was exemplified with the Springfield Lyons neolithic causewayed enclosure just as much as at the Springfield Cursus and other sites nearby.

Although excavations here found a large, deep ditch with impressive ramparts and entrance, in Oswald, Dyer & Barber’s (2001) survey of these giant monuments, they defined the remains here as “probable,” pending further investigations.  But the site was primarily defined by the large deep ditch, broken in several places round its edges with the ’causeways’ built leading onto the site.  The enclosure gave good views over the small valley from here and had streams running either side of it.

Adjacent to the site were the remains of a “small circular enclosure with multiple entrances,” saying that excavation here,

“has proved that it is of late Bronze Age date and might be interepreted variously as a defended settlement, or a ritual monument.”

This external small enclosure site was then conjectured, quite spuriously it’s gotta be said, to be a mini-version of the great causewayed enclosure monument, saying:

“Its siting and form both hint that it could have been a conscious imitation of, or re-invention of, the perceived form of the earthworks of the neolithic enclosure.”

I like the idea, it’s gotta be said — but without direct evidence we’ve gotta take this idea with a large pinch of salt!

…to be continued…

References:

  1. Brown, N., ‘The Archaeology of Essex 1500 – 500 BC,’ in Bedwin, O. (ed.), The Archaeology of Essex, ECC: Chelmsford 1996.
  2. Brown, N., “The Late Bronze Age Enclosure at Springfield Lyons in its Landscape Context,” in Essex Archaeology & History, volume 32, 2001.
  3. Oswald, Alastair, Dyer, Caroline & Barber, Martyn, The Creation of Monuments: Neolithic Causewayed Enclosures in the British Isles, EH: Swindon 2001.
  4. Priddy, D., ‘Excavations in Essex, 1987,’ in Essex Archaeology & History, 19, 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


St. Osyth’s Well, St. Osyth, Essex

megalithix

Holy Well:  OS Grid Reference – TM 116 166

Archaeology & History

This spring of water is in the edge of Nun’s Wood on the north side of the Dolphin Pond pool and is covered by a small stone building, from which issues a small stream into the lake.  Remains of an old nunnery in the woods are said to be the oldest such monastic remains in England.

Folklore

This holy well, the woods in which it’s found, and the old straight road leading to the chapel,* are all said to be haunted by the headless ghost of old St. Osyth, beheaded — in one legend — by the Danes who came here in the 7th century.  At the spot where she’s said to have received her final fatal blow, the waters from this now bricked-up old well gushed forth from the Earth. (Prior to this, folklore tells how St. Osyth was ‘killed’ several times, and each time came back to life – just as in shamanic lore, from which such early christian tales were glossed onto.)

Of it medicinal virtues, Robert Charles Hope (1893) told us that St. Osyth’s Well had been blessed by many a sufferer who found there a medicine for his ills, and at that time, “continues to this day as a sovereign remedy for many diseases.”

References:

  1. Hope, R.C., Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England, Elliott Stock: London 1893.

* I’m presuming that the old road to the chapel here is the long straight grove of trees which ran from St. Osyth’s Chapel and up towards the well. Anyone know for sure?

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian