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THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Southwark. There was pottery of all periods. Some Arretine
ware and La Tene III. types with evidence of Roman influence
were found.
Brentford. The pottery may belong to the end of the 2nd century.
The evidence suggests that subsidence commenced in the
early 2nd century and its effects were widely felt by the end of
this century, when many low-lying settlements were submerged.
The limit of tidal influence in the estuary in the three-to-four
centuries of Roman occupation was advancing westward and
the divergent views as to the point at which it ceased may be
harmonized.
The Saltwater Creek. The creek lasted for a long period,
during which estuarine clays were deposited. They are 51/2ft.
thick at the corduroy road and form a layer 2ft. thick over the
whole causeway ; their upper surface is 9ft. above O.D. These
marine clays are dark-grey except near the landing-stage, where
they are yellowish-grey from admixture with the gravel of the
shore ; they are traversed by branching rusty-red veins from
decayed seaweed, and contain at all levels many marine shells ;
numerous shells at the same level indicate old cockle-beds. Near
the position of the old shore medieval pottery of the 13th century
was found, akin to that of the land site. The creek was an
important physical feature ; it was the centre around which the
three manors of Southchurch developed.
The "inning" of the Southchurch Marshland. The date
when a barrier was constructed to exclude the tidal water is un-
known ; but light is thrown by the scanty records, place-names
and archaeological remains.
In the early Saxon period there was probably a riverain
settlement in a forest clearing at Samuel's Farm ; in 1929 an
inhumation burial with a hoard of Saxon sceattas of about 700
A.D. was found near by [39]. This interment with funeral gifts,
in the open country, suggests a pagan burial. Churchyard
burial dates generally from the early part of the 8th century,
but Southchurch was still pagan, although churches had been
erected by Cedd about 653 A.D. at Bradwell and Tilbury and by
Erkenwald at Barking in 675 A.D. A church, Southchurch, was
built probably before the Viking period (800-950 A.D.) as it
had given its name to the district before 824 A.D., when it was
presented with the area around to Christ Church, Canterbury.
The usual continuity of sacred sites suggests that it occupied the