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FURTHER REMARKS BY T. V. HOLMES.
in which, if I remember rightly, no water appears to spring within
the works, but in each case a brook is at the foot ot the slope.
But in the case of the Harlow hill, there is evidence not only
of a supply of water from outside, but of a pond or reservoir on the
earthwork itself! Just below the lower court or terrace are the
remains of a pond, provided with a ditch to carry the surplus water
to the deep dyke on the N. of the works.
I do not claim to be a geologist, and hesitate to raise a ques-
tion in that field against so redoubtable a champion ; but, as a
mere layman, I would ask if, as Mr. Holmes says, the hill is all
London Clay, whence comes the water to this pond, which is some
feet above the alluvial ground of he marsh ?
FURTHER REMARKS ON THE ABOVE PAPERS.
By T. V. HOLMES.
Since the foregoing notes were read at the meeting of the Essex
Field Club, on the River Lea, June 29th, I have been favoured with
a sight of Mr. Gould's reply to them. It seems best to notice here,
as briefly as possible, the points brought forward by Mr. Gould.
He remarks, in the first place, that my explanation of the way in
which this Harlow hill was shaped, by a change of course of the
Stort, has no bearing upon the archaeological question. But as
Mr. Gould has no explanation of any kind to offer on this
fundamental point, and as the writers in the "Gentleman's
Magazine," and "Archaeologia," quoted by him, were evidently
ignorant of the explanation given, it became necessary to bring it
forward. It would have been absurd to consider other questions
without settling that one first.
The discovery of Roman coins on the hill would show nothing
as to its occupation.3 Coins may be found anywhere. They were
buried in thousands of places by thousands of people, from the
earliest periods up to the present day, and are as likely to be
found near an old tree as an old house. Besides, the question is
whether this Harlow hill is an ancient earthwork or castellum, on
which coins can tell us nothing.
Then, as to the ditches at the base of the hill, Mr. Gould seems
to think that because one of these ditches keeps for some distance
3 I do not gather, however, from "Archaeologia," and the "Gent. Mag." that any have
been found on the hill itself.