154 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
position where erosion exceeds deposition. Islands near the
shores of Kent and Essex, occupied in Roman times, are now
submerged; the saltings of the Medway mouth and Swale are
disappearing rapidly (Spurrell); a large area of land at Milton,
Essex [14] was removed in A.D. 1327 and subsequent years,
leaving the Southend Flat. The construction of sea-walls saved
large tracts of saltings and low grounds on the east coast of
Essex and the estuaries of the Thames, Medway and smaller
tidal rivers; it has masked to a great extent the effects of
subsidence in these artificially protected areas.
The evidence advanced in favour of subsidence in the Lower
Estuary includes:
1. Higham, North Kent [15]. Roman potteries, burial and habitation
sites extend for three miles along the edges of the marsh.
2. Marshes of Medway and Swale [16]. The Roman level is at
about O.D. and is covered by marshland and saltings. Scattered
Roman potteries, burial and habitation sites are found over a wide
area.
3. Pan Sand, Pudding-Pan Rock and Blyth Sands. Mr. Spurrell
considered that these were islands and habitation sites in the Roman
period. Red and black pottery, brick, masonry and roofing-tiles
have been dredged up over an area of several square miles. On
Pudding-pan Rock [17] a vessel laden with Lezoux ware of the
2nd century is supposed to have foundered; much of the pottery
has been recovered and may be seen in different museums.
4. Essex Red Hills [18]. These artificial mounds occur mainly in
areas protected by sea-walls at the alluvium edge; others on the
saltings outside the walls have been washed away; they date from
the La Tene period. Similar mounds occur in the marshes of
Upchurch, Kent.
5. Canvey Island. If Canvey Island is the Convennos or Counos
of Ptolemy (c. A.D. 100-161), as suggested by Camden [19], it may
have been a habitation site in the 2nd century. In the shell-bank
at the Eastern Spit, Roman potsherds have been washed out of the
Roman stratum [20]. Romano-British pottery and Samian ware
have been dredged up recently around the island [21].
6. Leigh [22]. A red amphora was found in the mud at half-tide.
7. Foulness. The island is below T.H.W., protected by sea-walls.
Two Belgo-British sepulchral tumuli are at Loading Marsh, Little
Shelford [23]; one contained a cremation burial of the early 2nd
century, with vessels of Samian and black ware and an ivory wristlet.
Roman pottery occurs elsewhere [24].
S. Great Wakering. Great Wakering has yielded many objects
of Roman date whose exact provenance is unknown [25]. In areas
protected by sea-walls are Roman tiles, possibly from brick-earth
pits near Wakering Stairs [26] and Roman remains indicating habit-
ation sites from a brickfield near Great Wakering Common [27].