216 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
day for more distant points—the mound enabling the surveyor
to take backsights. Evidence exists elsewhere to the effect
that this was the method employed in Roman surveying.
In figure 2 the position of Plumberow Mount is shown in
relation to the suspected centuriation in southern Essex. It
will be noticed that the larger (9 furlongs) and smaller (381
yards) distances appear with a frequency that seems purposeful.
The extension of one of the well-defined lineaments of the pattern
cuts the crest of the mount and it seems feasible to urge that
this pattern represents the remains of centuriation and the
artificial mount a surveyor's point in connection with centuriation
of the area.
In pursuance of this idea of the occurrence of 'botonini,'
or surveyors' points, it is noticeable that, if extended, most of
the major lines in the centuriation map would pass across
prominent physical or artificial features. Thus, the road
apparently coming from the Balkerne Gate via the Tiptree
Villa meets the highest point in the Danbury mass ; the main
Dengie road follows the steep ridge occurring in the district
and finally cuts the crest of Kit's Hill. The Mersea British
barrow has a line passing across its crest, whilst several hilltops
sufficiently high to figure prominently appear to have similar
connections, and may well have been used in a survey that
centuriation would have necessitated (see Plate VIII).
The suggested system of centuriation would also explain
the puzzling and apparently purposeless fashion in which certain
main Roman roads bend into a town. Examples of this can
be seen in the O.S. map to the north of Chelmsford and Colchester.
This useless angle does not seem consistent with Roman custom,
but the feature is easily explained in the light of the suggested
centuriation-grid. Bearing in mind the difficulty of tracing
Roman roads in the district, it seems highly probable that these
puzzling bends never existed in Roman times. The fact that
Roman roads are often lost in the vicinity of a town suggests
that it may well be that these bends in the O.S. map have been
inferred and drawn from an apparent necessity of ending the
road somewhere—relics in the district probably lending a spurious
air of support to the presence of a road.
The boundaries of the parishes within the area also give a
large measure of support to this suggested centuriation scheme.