A REPLY BY I. CHALKLEY GOULD.
65
so covered with trees as to be difficult to estimate with precision,
but it must rise 35 or 40 feet above the alluvial flat at its base. It
is obvious, too, that the Bishop's Stortford mound, from its close-
ness to the river, both commanded that stream and a water supply
from it, while the Harlow mound is not well situated, either for
military purposes or for water supply. For no water is obtainable
from the London Clay, and that from ditches or ponds on the edge
of the alluvial flat would often be small in quantity as well as bad in
quality. In addition, a supply from the distant Stort would have
been liable to interruption at the hands of an enemy in primitive
times.
On the other hand, the Harlow Hill would afford pasturage for
cattle when the alluvial flats surrounding it were more or less
flooded ; and as floods largely occur in winter, when cattle need
more or less shelter, some farm buildings may at one time have
existed on the hill. Though people in all ages preferred gravel or
some other permeable rock as the site of a town or village, yet many
isolated farmhouses and cottages may still be seen, the inhabitants
of which derive their water supply from ponds. On June 8th I
visited a spot near Chelmsford where a well was being sunk, by order
of the local authorities, to supply some cottages with water of better
quality than that which they were then getting from ponds once
probably marlpits.
In conclusion, it may be useful to sum up my remarks on the
Harlow mound or hill. (1) It has been produced simply by former
changes in the course of the River Stort. (2) Its contours are those
of a natural hill of London Clay, on which no earthworks for
defensive purposes have ever been constructed. (3) Its position
and soil must always have made it unsuitable for a fort of any sort.
(4) It is by no means improbable that it may once have had on it
farm buildings of some kind ; and the foundations of strong walls,
said to have been discovered on it, may have belonged to them.
A REPLY.
By I. C. GOULD.
A large portion of my esteemed opponent's paper is devoted
to his views as to the shaping of the hill by a natural shifting of
the course of the River Stort. This is of the greatest importance;
but, whether right or wrong, is without any bearing upon the
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