NOTES. 181
it seems to show the presence of a lower bed of boulder clay
beneath the gravel at Maldon, whereas the great mass of boulder
clay is newer than that gravel. This section will be much deeper as
the work goes on, and will probably reach London Clay beneath the
Drift throughout, instead of only in part, as now.
The deepest cutting is at Billericay, with a very fine section of
Bagshot Sand, the junction with the underlying London Clay being
shown all along the chief part.
All these sections will be described in a Geological Survey
Memoir now in hand. If any member of the Club has a record of
any unpublished section or boring, that he does not mean to publish,
let him send a copy of it to me, and he may help to answer the
question at the head of this note.
Salting Mounds.—Mr. Henry Stopes, in his paper, "The 'Salting Mounds'
of Essex" (Essex Naturalist, i., 96), and the Rev. Baring Gould in his
story "Mehala" (quoted in E.N., i., 115) both speak of the ancient pottery
sometimes found abundantly in the "Salting Mounds" or "Red-Earth Hills."
A mound was recently pointed out to me by a friend as being remarkable for the
large quantity of pottery it contains. This mound is not marked upon Mr.
Stopes' plan, and I venture to call attention to it, as in case of any future
investigations it would be a most interesting mound to work at. On the Ordnance
Map, sheet 4S S.W. (Colchester), is marked Fringringhoe Fresh Marsh. The
mound I speak of is upon this marsh. It would be almost impossible to dig a
spadeful of earth out of the mound without finding a dozen or more pieces of
the rough pottery of which I send a sample. The pottery appears to me to
be ancient British which has been reburnt. The pieces have become so decayed
that they can be crumbled by the fingers when first dug out of the mound.—
J. C. Shenstone, Colchester, September 10th, 1887. [The fragments of
"pottery" or tile kindly sent up by Mr. Shenstone are crude in substance,
nearly an inch in thickness, the component clays being not thoroughly amal-
gamated, and it is evident that grass was mixed with the clay before it was
baked— a characteristic of the red-earth mound shards which is referred to by
Mr. Stopes. It would be rash to decide that the "pottery" is either of
British or of later date upon the evidence solely of the fragments sent. Mr. E. A.
Fitch informs us that in the Colchester Museum are sixteen specimens from the
Red-earth hills, with locality label "1/4 m. E, Stroud Windmill." This mill is at
the head of Pyefleet Channel, north of Mersea Island, with six "Salting Mounds"
lying to the east, as shown in the map on page 103 of Essex Naturalist. The
specimens are thus mentioned in Mr. J. E. Price's Catalogue (still in M.S.) :—
"1686—Selection of bones and pottery from the Red-earth hills on the marshes
of the Essex coast. A portion of the pottery resembles the Saxon type, and the
ware is coarse in texture, and of a reddish colour." A more precise description
of these specimens is desirable. In a letter recently received from Mr. Laver,
F.L.S., of Colchester, he says that the "red-hills" are, in his opinion, pre-
historic. He adds—"In Benton's 'History of Rochford Hundred,' the author
states that on Foulness Island is one of these red-hills in which are many Roman
burials. If this is so, it proves that the mounds were in existence in Roman
times. They may, however, have been formed during the Roman occupation."
We shall be glad to have any further details, if such are in existence, as to the
use of the red-hills as places of sepulture. A mound would possibly be selected
for this purpose as being drier than the surrounding marsh-land, or from being
in itself a kind of funeral monument.—Ed.]