THE " RED HILLS " OF CANVEY ISLAND. 137
dug up on the sea-shore at Leigh Beck ; but systematic research
has been lacking, and the character and extent of the early
occupation of the Island, revealed in part by such finds, has
remained an unsolved problem.
The first of the five "Red-hill" sites came under my notice
at the end of 1937. Having occasion to remove some soil from
the roadside bank opposite my house in Ferndale Crescent, near
to Thorny Creek, I was struck by the presence of fragments of
pottery, oyster shells, and partially charred bones in the surface-
soil. The objects were numerous, of very varied character, but
fragmentary, and indicated the existence of a local refuse-tip of
the Romano-British period of the first and second centuries A.D.
The position of the tip DI is marked in the map, a brief des-
cription of this excavation is given below.
On removal of the surface soil and fragments to a depth of
about 18 inches the subsoil was found to change abruptly in
character from that of a stiff loam to a reddish cindery earth.
Such soil is characteristic of the Red-hills of Essex, and, indeed,
on continuing the excavation fragments of red burnt clay
("briquetage"), clay wedges and small pieces of finer pottery
were recovered similar in general character to the material and
objects found on other sites and recorded in the Essex Naturalist
and in the Report of the Red-hills Exploration Committee,
1906-7 (Proc. Soc. Antiqu., March 19th, 1908).
A second hole, opened up 30ft. further down the slope to the
west and located at a level 2ft. 6ins. below that of the earlier
excavation and 8ft. above the level of the water in the dyke,
yielded nothing but alluvium containing some 3 per cent. of sand,
to the depth of 3ft. 6ins., but burnt earth has been dug up by the
owner in a garden 80 to 90 yds. to the north a few feet below
the surface, and by myself in three further holes, DII, DIII and
DIV dug at points to the south and south-west.
The Romano-British fragments seem to have been shot on
the extreme edge of a Red-hill mound, at that time, possibly,
lapped by the waters of the creek.
My operations, a few days later, were removed to undisturbed
ground some 220 yards to the south-east, situated near the top
of a low mound close to the junction of Leigh Road and Black-
more Avenue.