117
REPORT ON EXCAVATIONS IN LOUGHTON
CAMP, IN EPPING FOREST.
CARRIED OUT BY THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB
DURING 1926 AND 1927.
(With folding map, 4 plates and four text figures.)
By S. HAZZLEDINE WARREN, F.G.S.
[Read 29th October, 1927, with additions.]
THE SITUATION AND PLAN OF THE CAMP.
THE general character of Loughton Camp is too well known
to need more than a passing reference. It is situated in
a favourable strategic position on a promontory of the Epping
Forest plateau, and immediately on the edge of steep descents
to deep valleys on the west and south.
As the previously published plan of the camp was found to be
useless for detailed work, I have made an entirely new one.
Although not trained in surveying work, I have endeavoured to
make this as reliable as possible. The levels above Ordnance
Datum are approximate only ; the 300-foot contour crosses
the Camp, but it is not easy to identify its position with precision.
I do not think the so-called "bench marks" given on the plan
and sections of the previous report1 are all trustworthy.
The present plan aims at representing the artificial work
of the Camp, so far as this is preserved at the present day, apart
from everything else. After many experimental trials in
different parts I found that the most uniform and the best
representation of the Camp was given by contours of one foot
above, and one foot below, the natural surface, for the bank and
ditch respectively. The method followed was to set an
Abney level to the inclination of the ground, and then take
the levels with a staff. For instance, where the slope is rather
steep, the crest of the rampart may be no more than six inches
above the floor of the Camp on the inside, but yet 8 feet above
the surface from the outside, while a section shows that the
actual height is 5 feet. The method indicated above gives a
nearer approximation to the truth than strict levelling, and
reaches it in the simplest and most direct manner.
1 Trans. Essex Field Club III. (1884).
H