Antiq J 58

TM 005156. The structure and function of the salt-making site, together with comparable evidence from other sites, demonstrates a degree of specialization within Iron Age society with interesting consequences for any view of social structure. The possibility of trade in salt, over and above production for local needs, must also be considered. Au(abr)

TL 979013. Excavations in the church and churchyard revealed a complex series of building phases preceding the existing structure. Domestic occupation of the middle and late Saxon periods was followed by a timber building, interpreted as a church, with associated graves. The early structures were built alongside and aligned on a Roman road, and the cemetery associated with the first (Norman) masonry church encroached on this road, causing its diversion. The excavation of this key site has demonstrated the likely Roman date of an extensive road and field system which survives throughout the Dengie peninsula. A preliminary discussion of the historic landscape and its future potential for study is offered. Au

In answer to W Rodwell's postulated identification of Icanho with Hadstock, it is counter-claimed that St Botolph's monastery was at Iken in Suffolk, with the place-name, topography, dedication and a grant to St Aethelwold cited in support.

The apparently useless objects often found in purses in pagan Saxon burials, suggested by David Brown to be amulets, are rather to be seen as a form of small change for minor transactions; most of them could be melted down by traders and re-used.