36 PRE-HISTORY IN ESSEX.
Pottery Mounds in India (E. M. Moir, E.N., xiv., 1907, p. 279).
On the plains of India water has often to be carried con-
siderable distances in large earthen pots. The potteries
where these vessels are made are marked by mounds of
red earth, with debris of broken vessels. 298
Red-Hills Exploration Committee, Interim Report (E.N., xv.,
Appendix). 298A
Lincolnshire (S. H. Warren, E.N., xvii., 1912, p. 107).
"Briquetage" associated with peculiar "hand-bricks"
occurs at Ingoldmells Point, on the Lincolnshire Marshes,
but there is no Red Hill. 299
Potash-making (H. Laver, E.N., ix., 1895, pp. 119-133). Potash
was formerly used for the purposes for which we now
employ soda. It has been an extensive rural industry,
the potash being made from the ashes of burnt wood or
other vegetable material. 300
XX.—Charcoal Burning.
Essex (T. S. Dymond, E.N., xiii., 1904, pp. 240-243, photograph
of hut). A general account of the decaying industry, which
still lingers at Writtle. 301
Epping Forest (S. W. Warren, xvi., 1910, pp. 65-73, 5 plates
and 2 figs.). The method by which the industry is carried
on is described. The hut, of which measured plans and
sections are given, is obviously a survival from prehistoric
times. It is conical in form, and its framework consists
of 12 poles, about 13 feet long ; these are placed round in a
circle and bound together at the top. Cross-pieces are
placed between these and the whole covered by sods of
turf overlapping like the tiles of a roof. When the hut
falls into decay, the sods of turf slide down the sides of the
cone and form a raised ring, or hut-circle, round the base. 302
XXI.—Game Trapping, Fishing.
Wild-Fowl Decoys, Mersea (H. Laver, Proc., iv., 1884, p.
cxiv.). 303
"Wild-Fowl Decoys in Essex" (J. E. Harting, E.N., ii., 1888,
pp. 159-169, map showing their distribution, and 3 figs.).
Decoys were formerly an important source of food supply.
Twenty-nine are recorded for Essex, of which three only
are still used. The wild fowl are enticed, or driven, to the
large open mouth of the "tunnel pipe" or "pipe," made of
netting stretched on a frame. The "pipe" is placed over a
ditch connected with the pond, and is always curved, so that
the birds cannot see its end. It gradually narrows and