178 WITH REMARKS UPON THE OBJECTS FOUND.
known mounds in the Wigborough and Mersea districts, prepared
by Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S. The sites are plotted on the
1-inch map, and are consequently only approximations to the
true positions.
In the remarks that follow, I make no pretension to putting
forth a complete and permanent theory of the origin and use of
the Red-hills. I simply wish to make a few suggestions, which
may be taken as "working hypotheses" in guiding the investi-
gations of future explorers.
In any discussion of the subject the following data should be
kept in mind:—
I. The distribution of the Red-hills on the saltings and marshes, above
high-water mark, and generally fairly close to existing salt creeks and estuaries.
None are found inland.
II. The great number of "hills" at present known. It is probable that
Mr. Dalton, Dr. Laver, and myself could plot down 200 on the Essex map.
III. The large size of many of them. They vary in extent from half-an-acre
to about 25 acres, and as the burnt earth is often several feet thick, the total
quantity must be prodigious. One near Peldon, covering 10 acres, Mr. Stopes
estimated to contain some 100,000 tons of red-earth.
IV. The apparent homogeneity of the burnt earth, and the close corres-
pondence of structure and contents of one "hill" with another.
V. The numerical proportions of the fragments of pottery. The vast
number of shards were of the coarse, thick pottery, often so plentiful as to form
quite one-fourth of the whole mass of burnt stuff. The paucity of the wedges
and T-shaped pieces, and the comparatively small number of fragments of the
finer ware.
Whilst working at the hills, the conclusion irresistibly forced
itself upon us that we had there the debris of some primitive kind
of pottery-making industry, and I put forward that hypothesis
when relating the results of the Burnham exploration at the
meeting of the Club at Colchester in March, 1889 (Essex Nat.,
iii., 163-4), and again at the meeting at Virley on April 13th,
1903 (Essex Nat., Vol. xiii., pp. 244-5). On consultation with an
old potter employed at the Potteries in Honey Lane, Waltham
Abbey, he pointed out the similarity of the fragments of coarse
pottery to the ware of the great seggars used to protect pots
during firing. He also recognised the T-pieces as suggesting
the rudely moulded rods or ''spacers" of clay used to keep the
pots expanded whilst being baked. The little "bricks" are
like the wedges still used in potteries to keep the vessels upright