16 ROMANO-BRITISH SETTLEMENT AT CHIGWELL.
which is referred to in our county histories, and of which there is
a tradition* that before the Norman conquest it had a village with
a church of its own.
Of this church or village, as apart from Chigwell, no record has
been found. May not the tradition result from a filtering down
through long ages of the fact of a Romano-British settlement
having existed on that spot ?
It must also be noted that there is an ancient ford-way over
the river Roding at the spot indicated on the plan, so that it is
just possible that the Romano-British track ran east and west
instead of north and south.
The whole question is involved in obscurity, but I am not
without hope that some light may yet be thrown upon the subject.
No. 18. Vessel of White Ware, 33/4IN. High, originally coated with
a Red Pigment.
* See Salmon's History and Antiquities of Essex, 1740, page 36; also
Morant's History and Antiquities of Essex, 1768, Vol. I., page 167.