STRAY NOTES, PREHISTORIC, SAXON, AND NORMAN. 223
I am strongly inclined to think that this earthwork and wood
may be identified with a certain wood known in the year 1222, as
"The Defence of Navestock," with which its present title, "Fortifi-
cation Wood," may be said to be synonymous.
We find in an Ecclesiastical Visitation of that date, known as
The Domesday of St. Paul's, the following entry, "Stephen son of
Robert holds [amongst other lands] half-an-acre juxta defensum de
Nastok,"7 and of this same Stephen it is further recorded that "he
claims hereditary right in the forest of wood which is called The
Defence, and shall answer to the Canons or their Bailiff concerning
injury to the trees and shall have of windbreche whatever in the
sight of the bailiff may be deemed unfit for timber, as also the
loppings of the trees which are strewn about during the felling of
timber." 8
If Fortification Wood (as I take it to be) is identical with "The
Defence of Navestock" (which latter was certainly a forest of
wood capable of producing full-grown timber in 1222), some con-
siderable antiquity must be allowed for the execution and employment
of this earthwork, which by the kind permission of our good friend
and most hospitable host, Mr. Sellar,9 we have permission to visit
to-day.
In connection with this work as a place of defence, I venture to
call your attention to its position—directly east of Navestock Park
and Church—the vicinity of Beacon Hill (a suggestive name in con-
nection with defence)—and in particular to the shapes and positions
(as marked upon the Ordnance Map) of the small clumps of wood
by which it is bounded on the south-east, south, and south-west.
Those among you who have visited the earthwork at South Weald
known as "The Camp," may possibly have some suggestion to offer
as to whether or not Fortification Wood—anciently known as "The
Defence of Navestock"—and "The Camp" at South Weald, may
have once had some or any features in common,
III. NAVESTOCK IN SAXON TIMES.
From the prehistoric we now turn to the historic period, and
naturally the first question to be answered is : What is the origin and
derivation of the name of the place itself ? I fear that I cannot
give a satisfactory answer.
7 Hale's S. Paul's Domesday, p. 79.
8 Ibid., p. 75.
9 D. P. Sellar, Esq., Dudbrook.