Iron Age or Roman red hill, Bovill's Marsh (EHER 11312)

A red hill of probable Iron age and Roman date indicating a salt working site. In 1973, workmen discovered an almost complete pot and possible salt working evaporation tanks.

Industrial site: red hill. <1> <2> 1973. Chance find. Almost a complete unbroken pot found by workman levelling a field. The pot was upright in the ground, approximately 1ft deep. The digger had chipped the top which broke and mostly fell into the empty pot. 'The fabric is grey and the outside is shiny black. Decoration is fairly faint and has been rolled on'. The driver who levelled the field in 1973 reported clay lined 'butterflies' and 'moths', red patches in the soil about 2ft deep. There are about three or four of these shown on the sketch plan in this source. 'These sound like salt working 'evaporation tanks' to me'. <3> <4> Pottery in owner's possession. <5> See photo <6>, aerial photos <7> <8> and cropmark plot <9>. Site Assessment: 'No visit made to confirm recent state of the site.' Finds made while site was being levelled. <3> NRHE data transfer: Red Hill. <10> A machine-operator levelling a field noticed three or four clay-lined 'butterflies', red patches in the ground, and reported them to the Maldon Archaeological Group. It appears probable that these were salt-working evaporation tanks of quatrefoil form. A complete Roman flask and a rim-sherd of a cooking-pot were also found in the field and are dateable to the late 2nd century to early 3rd century. <11>