EXPLORATION OF SOME "RED-HILLS" IN ESSEX. 177
We also cut into the remains of a Red-hill at Fen Farm (on
the same map) inside the sea-wall, facing Mersea flats. Red
earth and rough pottery were found, but little else. It appeared
to have been very much disturbed, and Mr. Griggs, the farmer,
said that many hundreds of loads of the burnt earth from it had
been spread over the fields. And we examined (but only
superficially) the site of a very extensive "hill" on Reeves Hall
Farm. This had been ploughed over, making the soil of the
field quite ruddy; fragments of the characteristic pottery could
be found scattered over the whole field.
In 1903 our attention was called by Mr. George Cross to a
Red-hill, or rather ridge, on his farm, Lee Wick, St. Osyth.
His orchard covers part of it, and it runs N. and S. for a long
way into the fields, which are reddened with the burnt clay. A
deep trench dug at one side of the orchard gave section of
the red earth, with the familiar kinds of rough pottery, T-pieces
and wedges. Only two or three pieces of Romano-British
pottery were found.
We know of a great many Red-hills in the Mersea, Peldon,
and adjoining districts, but I have noticed those only which we
have carefully examined.
The original description of our Essex Red-hills, from which
all later accounts have been compiled, is that by the late Henry
Stopes, F.G.S., in the Essex Naturalist for 1887 (Vol. i.,
pp. 96-105) under the title of "The Salting Mounds of Essex."
In this paper, Mr. Stopes gives details of the only practical
exploration (at Peldon) of Red-hills previous to our investi-
gations described above. It is quite unnecessary to enter here
into any general account of the Red-hills, inasmuch as Mr.
Stopes has done this admirably, and all enquirers are referred to
his paper. Mr. Stopes' descriptions are quite in agreement with
our own observations, and he found many of the same kind of
objects, although he makes no mention of the "T-shaped"
pieces of clay.3 He concluded, as we did, that the "hills" went
down to the undisturbed clay (? London Clay), and he noticed
the apparently uniform character of the burnt earth. In the
paper (at p. 103) is a map showing the distribution of the then
3 Some of Mr. Stopes' specimens are in the Essex Museum, having formed part of Mr
Dalton's geological collections.