Probable medieval industrial site, Tollesbury Wick Marsh (EHER 16343)

A complex arrangement of earthworks comprising two mounds, ponds, and earthen banks which form a sub-circular enclosure are visible on aerial photographs. In 1995 one of the mounds was investigated and proven not to be a red hill, but suggested to be associated with some form of salt working industry on the marsh. Further investigation in the same year interrogated the evidence for saltworking and concluded that whilst the ponds at the site can be broadly compared to medieval salt pans, fishponds, oyster beds and other coastal industries, they cannot be linked with certainty to any one. The pond system is extensive and highly developed and probably the remnants of an industrial process. There is little evidence of date but the site is almost certainly medieval in origin, possibly continuing in use into the post-medieval period.

1995. Aerial photograph interpretation. A sub-circular enclosure comprising five sections of ditch and bank and possibly related outer works. There is also a mound, thought to be a possible red hill. <1> <2> <3> May 1995. Test pit evaluation. A test pit was dug into the mound and indicated it is not a red hill (no red earth). It was interpreted as the remnant of other forms of salt extraction within the marsh. The only finds were small fragments of baked clay which could not be dated. <5> May 1995. Field survey. A complex site comprising between thirteen and seventeen ponds, two mounds and a platform, and situated at the end of a natural spur of slightly higher ground in the otherwise (relict) creek-ridden salt marsh. The spur may have formed a corridor of dry land leading across the creek system, perhaps providing access to the site. The site occupies an area 130m by 75m on the Western side of an extant creek which was once wider. Smaller, now relict, creeks lead off from the main one to form a dendritic pattern which feeds and, in the majority of cases, terminates in a series of artificial rectilinear pond-like features of varying sizes. A central element of the site seems to be the grouping of five ponds, fed by three separate creeks, around a small circular mound and associated lower platform. A second, larger mound lies 20m to the SE of the first and further ponds form a looser arrangement on the Northern, Eastern and Southern sides of the main cluster. The ponds are mostly roughly rectangular depressions with rounded corners, and the creeks enter via narrow entrances, usually in one corner; it is possible that sluice gates regulated water flow into and between the ponds, though no evidence of these is evident. Some ponds appear to have had internal features. Several have partial embankments around them, possibly created from excavated spoil. One of the mounds is oval (12.0m by 10.5m by 0.6m high) and is surrounded on three sides by a pentagonal platform (26.0m by 18.0m); the second mound is sub-circular and measures 19.0m in diameter by 0.3m high. It is possible that the mounds and the platform may have supported structures. Interpretation of the site is difficult. The site is not depicted on any known map and there is no directly linked documentary or archaeological evidence. The excavators of the test pit evaluation concluded that the mound is not a red hill, but probably a remnant of other later forms of salt extraction undertaken within the marsh. However, they were unable to provide any evidence for this alternate interpretation. The pond system is extensive and highly developed and it is possible that the mounds are performing a supporting role in an industrial process, which was associated with the salt marsh. Water may have flowed from one pond to another. The ponds can be broadly compared to medieval salt pans, fishponds, oyster beds and other coastal industries but cannot be linked with certainty to any one. There is little evidence of date but the site is almost certainly medieval in origin, possibly continuing in use into the post-medieval period. <6> See also <7> - <11>. Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import.