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THE ESSEX NATURALIST
EVIDENCE FOR A NEOLITHIC TRACKWAY IN ESSEX
BY E. A. AND E. L. RUDGE
[Read October 29th, 1949]
EVIDENCE has been adduced in recent years to show that
many archaeological features such as monoliths, tumuli,
mounds, beacons, and hill-notches, are sighting points on ancient
straight trackways. This theory has been widened to include
churches, castles, and market-crosses erected subsequently upon
the prehistoric site. Most of this evidence has been gathered in
the western counties, and a good deal of controversial matter has
been published.
In the spring of this year, we determined critically to examine
this theory in its application to Essex. From the earliest times,
East Anglia must have supported a large proportion of the popu-
lation, for its climate and natural features, and its nearness to the
Continent, must have created favourable conditions for settle-
ment. On the other hand, we were prepared to find a systematic
obliteration of evidence by intensive cultivation and the growth
of large towns. This paper summarises the results of our field-
work during the six months, May to October, 1949.
Geologically, Essex is an area of Tertiary and Quaternary
strata, and much of its surface consists of glacial drifts and river
alluvium. "Erratics," or transported rocks, are abundant
everywhere, and special precautions had to be taken to avoid
confusing them with monoliths erected by human agency.
Although the subject of Erratics attracted much attention
about fifty years ago, we found only one reference of value con-
cerning those of Essex. This was a paper by Dr. Salter, pub-
lished in the Essex Naturalist in 1912-13, which catalogued the
boulders reported at that time. Salter's list is by no means
exhaustive, and has little value as an inventory of Essex surface
stones, but we have found it of great value in the present enquiry.
It was soon apparent that no useful conclusions could be drawn
from the distribution of sarsens, since many appeared to have
been moved in recent times, and only a few, such as the sarsen
under the buttress of Fyfield Church, possessed an undoubted
antiquarian interest. We therefore turned to the much less
frequently occurring conglomerate boulders.
Conglomerate, or "puddingstone,'' is an easily recognisable rock
found in Secondary and Tertiary strata. It varies from a hard and
durable mass of silica pebbles in a silica matrix to a friable mass
of flint pebbles in a sandstone matrix. An Essex variety, some-
times used in the construction of church walls, occurs in the local
river-beds, e.g., the Ter and the Colne. The so-called Herts
conglomerate is a hard and characteristic variety occurring as an