Iron Age to Roman red hill/saltern, Red Hill III, Leigh Beck (EHER 9658)

A red hill of possible Iron Age to Roman date. Roman and medieval pottery was found as well as briquetage. It was excavated by E. Linder.

Monument description derived from merging EHER 9568 and 9659. Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Red Hill dug into by E. Linder producing Roman and medieval pottery, briquetage etc. All the red hills on the island have produced briquetage and Iron Age `C' pottery. The mound was situated near the bus terminus at Leigh Beck, the excavation being 250 yards from the sea wall. His plan shows one between Leigh Beck Farm and Leigh Beck Point. Sited by M.R. Hull. <1> - <5> April 1953. Field visit. No trace of this Red Hill now to be seen. <6> 1978. Excavation. Excavations within a Red Hill revealed a 'salt drying oven' consisting of two 'kiln-like' clay-lined chambers placed side by side and served by a common stoke-pit. No dateable pottery was recovered from structure but briquetage was present. Samples for archaeomagnetic dating were taken. <7> - <10> The oval chambers were served by individual flues on the short, north sides with a common flue apparently running east-west through both chambers. The structure was set in red hill debris overlain by about 60cm of alluvial silt. The chambers had a possible floor of burnt clay blocks. Finds with Canvey Archaeological Society. <11> <12> 1982. Excavation. Two, possibly three, further oven-like structures were revealed on the mud flats. These consisted of single chambers fed from the south by a common stoke-pit. No finds were recovered but the features are assumed to be connected with late Iron Age/Romano-British salt production. <13> 1986. Excavation. Part excavated by Wilkinson and Murphy as part of the Hullbridge Survey project. A body of occupation/midden deposits, almost 2m deep, overlain by thin deposits of shell, briquetage and other artefacts; sometimes these have been sorted by wave action into low beach ridges. The main site area is some 200m east of the sea wall. The site extends some 85m SW-NE and an estimated 40m north-west to south-east. A total of eight major deposits were recorded; one deposit included an oval basin made from red fired clay, interpreted as either a brine evaporation basin or a small kiln or oven and another comprised a pale brown silty clay loam, possibly a floor of a building. The bulk of the pottery belonged to the first to second/third centuries including two North Kent (Upchurch) fineware rims, some Samian, early shell-tempered, sandy grey, Black-burnished and fine grey wares. The contexts produced large quantities of shell and fishbones and also sheep/ goat bones; interpreted as food refuse. Remains of cereals were also present, the most common being spelt; it is unlikely that cereals were grown on the salt marsh and the cereal remains must derive from higher ground, possibly used on site as animal fodder or used in the manufacture of briquetage. <14> <15> 1993. Excavation. Fieldwork carried out in summer of 1993 produced a red hill dump, a shell midden, a set of 3 or 4 clay settlement tanks and a complete salt working unit. <16> See also: <17> - <19>