Transactions: Essex Society for Archaeology & History

This article details the archaeological evidence from Marks Warren Quarry, a 32ha (79 acre) site, which lies c. 21km to the north-east of central London and 4.8km north-west of Romford in Essex, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The area once formed part of the medieval manor of Marks Warren, the remains of which survive just to the west of the study area. \r\n\r\nNotable discoveries since 1976 include the complete circuit of a Bronze Age to early Iron Age enclosure or hillfort and an Early Roman multi-ditched enclosure with associated buildings. These have been recommended for protection as Scheduled Monuments (SM). Other features on the site are also listed monuments, including two post-medieval boundary markers and a Second World War gun emplacement.\r\n \r\nThe results of a rolling Monitor and Record operation have added new information, enabling consideration of the wider landscape within which the major monuments are set, and revealing a multi-period landscape that has been in almost continual use form the Mesolithic until the modern day. Of particular note is a new analysis of the pottery associated with the possible hillfort, which has now been identified as a regionally significant group spanning the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age transition.

The remains of fishtraps at Collins Creek, Pewet Island the the Nass were subject to a programme of monitoring survey during the period 2003-2007. Periodic visits to these sites recorded previously unknown parts of their structures and have contributed to the improved understanding of their nature and function. The results of the monitoring survey are presented, their remains compared to fishtrap sites found and recorded elsewhere since the publication of the initial 1990s work at Collins Creek, and consideration given to the potential for non-archaeological data to contribute to the study of these monuments. The effect of coastal change within the estuary, resulting in the episodic exposure and erosion of these sites is also discussed. While the last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of investigations in the intertidal zone, and consequently more fishtraps have been located around the British and Irish coasts, the Blackwater Estuary traps remain nationally important examples of this type of monument in terms of their survival, date, scale and group value.

An area at the rear of 127-129 High Street, Maldon, NGR TL 8536 0698, was excavated in April 2007 prior to redevelopment. Two occupation horizons with associated features were identified, the earlier from the 13th to mid 14th centuries, the High Middle Ages, and the later one from the late 18th to 19th centuries. These were separated by a thick soil layer, when the site returned to cultivation.\r\nMost evidence for activity relates to the first phase, primarily consisting of groups of intercutting pits. The pits were clustered into well-defined groups in a grid pattern, indicating the presence of possible boundary divisions. The site illustrates the effects of the decline in population and the economy from the mid 14th century onwards more sharply than others in Maldon. This may be due to its relatively marginal position, half way between the market place and the port.

The largest excavation within Chipping Ongar to date has provided significant evidence of the medieval and later development of the town through the investigation of a sequence of pit groups in a backlands area to the west of the medieval High Street. The earliest phase of settlement, dated to the second half of the 12th century, included the setting-out of a plot boundary as part of the foundation of the town in an outer enclosure of the motte-and-bailey castle. Activity on the site continued to flourish through the medieval period, although there appears to have been a decline in the 15th and 16th centuries before an intensification of activity from the mid-17th century. The pit groups provided large finds assemblages for the study of the economy both of the site and the town as a whole. The pottery in particular suggests that Chipping Ongar was relatively prosperous. Early trading links with London are indicated by the large amount of 12th-century London-type ware recovered, but from the mid-13th century this pottery supply was superseded by more localised pottery from Harlow to the west and Mill Green, Near Ingatestone, to the east. Most of the finds indicate domestic activity. although there is some evidence of bone-working.

Excavations at the corner of Legg Street and New Street, Chelmsford, Essex, revealed four phases of activity. The area of the site remained on the northern periphery of the town from the medieval period until the 19th century. The archaeological record of the site, through all phases, is dominated by activity indicative of being on the town's periphery including brickearth quarrying, brick making and refuse pitting. A small group of medieval features, including quarry pits for the extraction of the natural brickearth, were revealed on the site. The early post-medieval period (1480-1600/1700) was represented by a series of pits, dominated by quarrying of the natural birckearth with a small number of features associated with domestic rubbish disposal. During the later post-medieval period (1600-1800) the pitting continued, although now primarily for the disposal of domestic refuse. The remnants of a brick kiln, dated to the late 17th to early 18th century, were also recorded during this phase. In the 19th century a basemented brick dwelling was constructed to the south of the site but the small number of rubbish pits also recorded illustrate the site remained within the back-gardens of properties fronting onto New Street and Legg Street.