160
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
The valley is here 7 furlongs wide and the lowest part of the
floor is 10-11ft. above O.D.; at this point the stream from
Samuel's Farm cuts through the gravel patch and enters the
marshland; a little to its south was the Causeway. The gravel
island was at the head of the Eastern Mere which formed the
eastern portion of the fenland floor. The section of the valley
floor at the Causeway (Plate VIII.) is as follows:—
Surface .. 11ft. above O.D.; 11/2ft, below T.H.W.
Surface soils .. 2ft. thick.
Marine clays .. Upper surface; 9ft. above O.D.; 31/2ft.
below T.H.W. Thickness, 5-iit.,
covering Causeway with layer 2ft.
thick.
Causeway. Upper surface; 7ft. above
O.D., 51/2ft. below T.H.W.; Thickness
31/2ft., resting on bed of old mere.
Bed of old mere.. 31/2ft. above O.D., 9ft. below T.H.W.,
71/2ft. from surface.
Lacustrine clays 101/2ft. thick.
Re-deposited gravels 7ft, below O.D., 18ft, from surface;
continuous with the gravel bed in
which the valley was formed.
The Prehistoric Settlement was on the plateau and the
gravel areas around the head of the mere and the mouth of the
stream. Certain aspects have been described elsewhere [38].
Many natural advantages made it the most suitable position for
settlement in the valley; it was nearly surrounded by oak
forest growing on the London Clay and brick-earth beds, and
the only easy access was by water. Almost all the evidences of
prehistoric man in the valley are found here or near by and all
might have been based on it. It was probably a habitation
site from the Neolithic Age to Medieval times. (Plate VII.)
In Bronze Age III. it acquired especial importance. Local
hoards indicate trade with the Continent and contain objects
suggesting the settlement of West Alpine pioneers in South-
church and the neighbourhood, after the dispersal of the Swiss
Lake Dwellers in 800 B.C. The Thames estuary was a favoured
route and Southchurch, at the first landfall on the Essex shore,
possessed meres suitable for the lacustrine architecture of the
new settlers.