Northey Island Marsh and undated enclosure (EHER 48459)

An island of improved grazing marsh within the Blackwater Estuary. Characteristic features include the sea wall, borrow dyke, and straight drainage ditches. Former creeks are visible as faint cropmarks in places. The grazing marsh vegetation has been lost. A geophysical survey undertaken in 2019 revealed an undated C-shaped enclosure and undated ditches and pits.

2014. Historic Grazing Marsh Project. Historic environment character: The marsh area was embanked by 1777 <1> with fields clearly visible on the 1st edition OS map <2>. Access to the island is via a causeway on the south-west corner, and then along the sea wall to Northey Farm. The farm buildings are marked on the 1777 map. The majority of the island has reverted to saltmarsh, with the remaining area comprising 4 small fields of improved 991AD. Buried prehistoric land surfaces have been recorded in the adjacent intertidal zone. Character of vegetation: Managed as brent goose pasture. Has been improved and is dominated by Creeping Bent Agrostis stolonifera, Perennial Rye-grass Lolium perenne, and Red Fescue Festuca rubra. Some Meadow Barley Hordeum secalinum and Meadow Foxtail Alopecurus pratensis. Threats: Grazing marsh vegetation has been largely lost through improvement but site is very important for brent geese. Threatened by saltwater flooding due to sea-level rise. Shoreline Management Plan: Hold the Line to 2105. See <3>. March 2019. Geophysical (fluxgate magnetometer) survey. The geophysical results primarily reflect the magnetically quiet environment of the site, allowing for the identification of sand and gravel bars and tidal flats deposits. The survey area is characterised by drains transecting in all directions. A C-shaped enclosure with possible internal structuring (ditches) and pits has been identified to the centre and west of the survey area. Further intermittent ditches of possible archaeological origins have been recorded surrounding the enclosures. Other activity identified is associated with an embankment surrounding the survey area’s western perimeter and an old field boundary cutting across the north of the survey area. See <4>.