79
ANCIENT REMAINS AT EPPING, ESSEX.
By C. B. SWORDER.
[Read January 30th, 1892.]
ON December 19th, 1891, hearing that some Roman tiles had been unearthed
by workmen employed in moving clay for brickmaking in a field called
Solomon's Hoppet, the property of S. Chisenhale Marsh, Esq., of Gaynes Park,
I went to the spot at once. The land is now in the occupation of Mr. Styles,
whose grandfather opened the ground for brickmaking about 100 years ago. Unfor-
tunately, the men had already destroyed nearly the whole of two walls which were
about twenty feet long, two feet high, and two feet apart. At one end the walls
were returned, and the intermediate space was floored with concrete-like material
so hard that the pick was broken by the workman when trying to get through it.
Part of the floor had a layer of flint stones, but these were all removed and thrown
into a heap with broken tiles, so that no particulars of position could be taken.
The remainder of the space between the walls was filled up with ashes and
wet clay, the whole being about three feet below the surface, and in a bed of clay
which had not been moved. The walls consisted of layers of tiles of various
thicknesses from one to two inches, the intervening substance seeming more like
clay than mortar, that nearest the ashes being harder, but both tiles and mortar
were very soft and brittle, so that not a single whole tile was saved ; however, a
few were carefully put together, from which the following dimensions were taken,
but they varied slightly in size and thickness. Length fourteen inches, width at
one end twelve and a-half inches, the other end ten and a-quarter inches, upon each
side a flange two inches high extends nearly the whole length, but cut off one and
a-half inches from the wide end, and two inches from the other, evidently for over-
lapping, but no sort of projection to hang the tile upon a lath could be found.
These are roofing tiles, the projecting flanges of adjoining tiles being covered
by a semi-circular ridge-tile, which bound them together and excluded the wet;
nearly all bear a hand-mark upon one side, but scarcely two are alike. Many
bear the impression of the foot-prints of dogs, goats, etc. Besides these were
fragments of flue pipes marked with lines in various designs; no whole pipes
could be found, and these pieces were built into the walls.
A fragment of a lipped circular vessel in dark ware of Roman make was also
found.
Mr. Styles gave me a small vessel of red ware which was found a few years ago,
which having been played with by children is somewhat worn at one end, so that
the shape cannot be very well determined; but it is cup shaped, five and a-half
inches in diameter, one and three-quarter inches deep inside, the lip having knife
marks radiating irregularly from a hand moulded ridge to the outer edge. Below
the lip the sides are contracted in a cone shape, the surface showing that a knife
was used in a perpendicular direction to form it. Just below the lip are three
lines not equidistant, and below these some straight cross lines, evidently, like
the others, cut with a knife; the bottom gives only slight signs of being some-
what enlarged for the foot or pediment.
Mr. Franks, of the British Museum, considers this unique example to be false
Samian ware, of British or Roman local make.
About forty years since a large quantity of burnt earth was removed from this
yard to an adjoining farm, having been discovered about fifty feet from the spot
where the remains above described, which I look upon as a kiln, were unearthed.