Iron Age or Roman red hill, north of Old Hall Creek, Old Hall Marshes (EHER 16192)

Red hill site comprising of a series of grassed earthworks with red soil exposed in places.

Red hill site comprising of a series of grassed earthworks with red soil exposed in places. The feature may extend beyond the present fence line to the east but this area has been disturbed by later ploughing and dumping. Given its size and area, important technological features are expected to survive beneath the surface. <1> NRHE data transfer: September 1999. Field survey. The earthworks were recorded by English Heritage (Cambridge Office) during analytical survey in September 1999. The site comprises of an irregular and undulating spread of earthworks, with few clear elements on the edge of unimproved grazing marsh: the creek system surviving to the east with improved grassland to the west. What remains is a mound 18.0m by 14.0m by 0.7m high, with a sharply defined rectilinear depression 17.0m by 10.0m by 5.0m high cutting into the mounds northern side. A ditch runs east from the depression towards the creek, whilst another leads north to the mound before splitting and running around the mounds southern and eastern sides. It seems likely that the rectilinear depression is a result of quarrying. The red earth from these sites was often used in agriculture to improve soils. The ditches are likely to have served to bring salt water as close as possible for transfer to settling tanks or hearths, features associated with red hills. See archive survey plan at 1:1000 scale and archive survey report. <2> See also <3> <4>. Note: This may be one of the eight red hills recorded by EHER 18963.