Essex erratic boulders: a gazetteer
Fig. 1. A distribution of erratic boulders referred to in the gazetteer
The gazetteer is obviously biased towards boulders visible from the road. Almost all of these have
been moved by humans to their present positions, many of them moved in antiquity without
mechanical assistance. The boulders in farmyards and by farm gates were discovered in fields
during ploughing but it is reasonable to assume that most boulders discovered in this way would
simply be moved to the edge of the field and left there. Hundreds of examples, therefore, remain to
be rediscovered on farm land in ditches and hedgerows.
History of Research
One of the first to record information about Essex erratic boulders was John Brown of Stanway in
the 1830s (Brown 1837) but it was the Essex Field Club in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
that regularly recorded the existence of erratic boulders in the pages of the Essex Naturalist. The
first paper was by the Rev. A.W. Rowe in 1887 entitled Some Essex boulders. In the same year,
Rowe produced a remarkably detailed analysis of Essex erratics in the Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society entitled On the rocks of the Essex drift. This was followed in 1893 by a paper
in the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society by the Rev. H.T. Armfield, Rector of
Colne Engaine, entitled On some ancient boulders scattered in the district of the Colnes. However,
it was head teacher and amateur geologist Dr. A.E. Salter, who, in 1914, produced the most
comprehensive list in a paper in the Essex Naturalist entitled Sarsen, basalt and other boulders in
Essex. This paper has been an invaluable source of reference for all those interested in Essex
boulders since then. In the 1950s E.A. Rudge revived interest in puddingstone with his numerous
articles and papers on the alignment of boulders which he claimed represented the route of a
prehistoric trackway. Rudge made no distinction between puddingstone and ferricrete and lumped
them together under the geological name of 'conglomerate'.
Much has been written about boulders in churchyards. These were present before the church was
constructed and it is possible that in some cases they were part of a prehistoric burial chamber or
monument. It is common to find church walls built upon erratic boulders which has led to the
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