Bronze pit and sherds, Langdon Hills, Basildon (EHER 80960)

Bronze Age pit, previously considered to be Iron Age. The pit was partly excavated in 1970, with charcoal, animal bone and a large amount of pottery sherds being recovered. The pottery has been identified as Late Bronze Age.

NRHE data transfer: A large, shallow pit lined with a raw clay, having a maximum surviving depth of 21 inches, an estimated length of about 13 ft, and an unknown width situated on top of a large mound was partly excavated in 1970. The gravel fill contained in addition to charcoal and animal bone a large amount of Early Iron Age pot-sherds. Similar pottery was found in a trial scraping of a nearby smaller mound, as well as a few sherds from a wide area around the mounds. Hoares concluded that the early Iron Age finds and position of the site (at 380ft OD), commanding an uninterrupted view of the Thames estuary, made it interesting to speculate a hill-fort at this point, although no defences were seen. <1> Drury generally referred to the small number of 'hill forts' in the Essex area which had all demonstrated the paucity of evidence for dating, form and internal features. He added that only Langdon Hills (referring to Authy 1) and Asheldham (TL 9701) produced sufficient pottery even to suggest permanent occupation, assuming that the material concerned (in both cases probably of 6th century BC date) had related to the defences. Sherds of Cuncliffe's West Harling/Staple House group fine ware were represented at Langdon Hills. <2> Nothing visible on OS air photographs in an area of dense vegetation. <3> The pottery has now been identified as late Bronze Age (7th BC). Doubt may be cast on the interpretation of the site as a hillfort. <4>