THE HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF ESSEX.* THE third volume of the
Essex series in the illustrated Inventory which is being published by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments is, if possible, better than its prede- cessors. We note the same admirable combination of scientific treatment and intelligibility and the same taste in choosing the illustrations as in the earlier volumes, but there is something new. The paper is of a slightly finer quality— it is remarkable how well it carries illustrations on both sides ; and an extremely convenient arrangement has been introduced by which headings at the top of every page turn the whole volume into a running index. All the printing has been done at the Stationery Office's own works. As a rule we do not look in vain for blemishes and wastefulness where State enterprises are concerned, but in this case we are bound to say that we have found neither. It only shows that it is impossible to affirm an absolute rule about anything. If we were asked to suggest an explanation—for no doubt there is a reason for the exception—we should say that the well-known enthusiasm of the Royal Commission has in effect converted a State undertaking into a private undertaking. Indeed, the members give their own particular explanation. They express their appreciation of the manner in which their Secretary, Mr. George Duckworth, has "adapted the work to the economical pressure applied to all Government Departments." Only the Secretary's "extreme care in
• Royal Commission on Historical Mimumenls (England), Essex (Nortk-Easl). Volume IIL London : liIi Majeaty's Stationery Office. [12 net.]
working out the details," -they say, has made it possible to maintain a regular publication of the volumes at the price charged.
North-East Essex, with which the present volume deals, is richer in Roman remains than any district in England. Colchester alone is an unending source of delight to the antiquarian with its captivating mediaeval buildings imposed upon or surrounded by some of the most perfect remains of the Roman occupation which are anywhere to be seen. North- East Essex has comparatively few earthworks of importance, for this part of the country was not well suited to hill-forts. The notable Lexden works stand almost alone in interest and importance. Very curious, however, arc the Red Hills and the Romano-British barrow on Mersea Island. The so- called Red Hills have always been a puzzle. There are many of these mounds in the neighbourhood of Mersea Island. Similar works are found on the Lincolnshire coast and on the Upchurch marshes in Kent. They are generally low and irregular in shape and often cover two or three acres. The red earth is extremely fertile, and farmers often cart it away to spread on their land. The Commission carefully investi- gated some of the hills, chiefly at Goldhangcr on the Black- water and at Canewdon on the Crouch. The red earth was found to contain pieces of roughly shaped and crudely baked clay with grass as a binding material. The clay was in the form of fire-bars or resembled bits of small ovens. Late Celtic pottery, pieces of Roman pottery, and a fragment or two of Arretine ware were also discovered. The Commission had many ready-made theories to choose from as regards the origin of these strange Red Hills. On the whole, they incline to the belief that the material was brought by water, perhaps as ballast in boats, and was dumped at the sides of the water to form " hards."
Nobody who knows this part of Essex needs to be instructed about the nature of a "hard." The beds and banks of the estuaries are soft mud, into which a man may sink to his knees and perhaps to his waist. It is not ugly mud—at least, the present writer thinks not—for when much of it lies bare at low tide it somehow has the quality of water ; it glistens and reflects strange lights, and it is the home of a wonderfully varied population of sea fowl. Only at high water can one land from a boat, for then it is possible to step on to the " salting,s," as those firm marshes are called which are covered with glasswort (locally known as samphire) and sea lavender. The saltings are under water only at spring tides. When the tide has receded a little it is impossible to land, except on a "hard," that is to say where gravel or some other hard substance has been laid to a considerable depth upon the mud.
The entrance to the Blaekwater River must at once have appealed to the eye of the Roman fortifiers. Opposite Mersea Island, in the creeks of which countless craft could be concealed, is the promontory called Othona by the Romans. There they built a strong fortification. The Saxon Chapel of St. Peter-on-the-Wall still stands, and has lately been restored with reverent good sense. The fortifications at the mouth of the Blackwater commanded the approach to Maldon ; the narrower Colne, which leads to Colchester, was more easily defended, and the principal Roman works were placed where what is now called the Roman River branches off from the Colne near Colchester.
To the present writer there is something fascinating in the loneliness of the reclaimed marshes between the Colne, Black-water and Crouch. They are studded with a few farms whose weatherboard houses are said by Americans to bear a strong resemblance to the earliest buildings in the North- American Colonies. The fascination consists largely in the
unexpectedness of the solitude. From the entrances to these rivers you can see the smoke of the countless steamers moving up and down the greatest waterway in the world. Yet it would be difficult to point anywhere in England to a more desolate spot than, say, the Dengie marshes.
Colchester is too well known to be described here at length; but we welcome the suggestion of the Commissioners that the section dealing with It might be published separately. As an illustrated catalogue, wholly free, of course, from " guide-book " inanity, it is beyond praise.
A picture of Layer Niamey Hall, a particularly fine early sixteenth century building, which was never finished though the towers indicate the majestic scale on which the whole
was planned, is a frontispiece to the volume. Most people who do not know this part of Essex will be thrilled, we imagine, by the discovery of St. Osyth Priory. It ought to be much better blown than it is, but as North-East Essex is a kind of cul-de-sac, comparatively few people have visited it though it is so near London.
The Priory of St. Osyth is late fifteenth century ; the walls are of flint and rubble or of red brick with limestone dressings. The Priory was founded before 1127 by Richard de Behneis, Bishop of London. It was suppressed in 1539, and in 1553 came into the possession of Lord Darcy, who transformed the buildings into a house. Lord Darcy was probably the builder of the very impressive great Barn. The house is of great interest both for the remains of monastic work and for the work of Lord Darcy. The Gate House is certainly one of the finest examples of this class of structure in the country.
Any one of these volumes would make an ideal Christmas present. We take a pleasure in making this suggestion because the work of the Royal Commission is such as every Government sensible of the amenities and careful of the historical monuments of the country has a positive duty to carry on. By buying a volume one would help the work in the best possible way, because the more revenue the Commission obtain the more economically will they be able to produce their future volumes. The whole Inventory will be an illustrated Domesday Book of England such as no other country possesses.
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