ESSEX ARCHAEOLOGY I AND HISTORY THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ESSEX SOCIETY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY Volume 22 (Third Series) 1991 Published by the Society at the Museum in the Castle 1991 THE ESSEX SOCIETY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY The Society was founded in 1852 as the Essex Archaeological Society Its objects are: (1) To promote and encourage the study of the archaeology and history of the historic county of Essex. (2) In furtherance of the above to publish the results of such studies in Transactions and to disseminate information on matters relating to archaeology and history in Essex through appropriate media. (3) To organise conferences, lectures, and visits for the benefit of members and interested members of the public; to educate the wider community in the historical and archaeological heritage of Essex; to co-operate with other bodies on matters of common interest and concern. (4) To provide library facilities for Society members and approved members of the public. Publications The articles in its Transactions range over the whole field of local history. Back numbers and offprints are available; list and prices on application to the Librarian. Members receive a quarterly Newsletter covering all aspects of the Society's activities, news of current excavations and fieldwork, and items of topical ~nterest. The Library The library is housed at the Hollytrees, High Street, Colchester, and is extensive. It aims to include all books on Essex history, and has many runs of publications by kindred Societies. Members may use the library on any weekday during museum opening hours ( 10-1, 2-5, Saturdays, October to March, closes 4 p.m.) on presentation of a signed membership card. Membership Application should be made to the Hon. Membership Secretary for current rates. Articles for Publication are welcome and should be set out to conform with the Notes for Contributors, of which offprints are available. They should be sent to the Hon. Editor. A list of officers, with addresses, will be found in this volume. Subscribing Societies in Essex Billericay Archaeological and History Society; Brain Valley Archaeological Society; Castle Point Archaeological Society; Colchester Ar­ chaeological Group; Essex Society for Family History; The Friends of Historic Essex; Great Bardfield Historical Society; Halstead and District Historical Society; Haverhill and District Archaeological Group; Ingatestone and Fryerning Historical and Archaeological Society; Maldon Archaeological Group; Saffron Walden Historical Society; Southend-on-Sea and District Historical Society; Waltham Abbey Historical Society; West Essex Archaeological Group; Woodford and District Historical Society; Chigwell School. Amended July 1987. ISSN 0308 3462 Printed in England by Witley Press Ltd., Hunstanton, Norfolk Essex Archaeology and History: Volume 22 ( 1991) Contents Some finds of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Essex 1 PAUL SEALEY Asheldham Camp - an early Iron Age hill fort: excavations 1985 13 OWEN BEDWIN Recent archaeological observations at Great Chesterford 38 HOWARD BROOKS and STEVEN WALLIS Early planned landscapes in south-east Essex 46 STEPHEN RIPPON Sir John de Coggeshale: an Essex knight of the fourteenth century 61 JENNIFER WARD Lionel de Bradenham and his siege of Colchester in 1350 67 W.R. POWELL The Golden Fleece, Brook Street, South Weald 76 PAUL GILMAN Wills and religious mentality in Tudor Colchester 87 LAQUITA HIGGS An archaeological sequence at the edge of Harlow marketplace 101 DAVID ANDREWS Temple Mills as an industrial site in the seventeenth century 115 K.R. FAIRCLOUGH Dutch cottages in Essex 122 M.R. EDDY Modern woodwork by H. & K. Mabbitt in Birdbrook church 132 CHRISTINE MABBITT The work of ECC Archaeology Section 1990 138 P.J. GILMAN (ed.) Excavations in Essex 1990 148 P.]. GILMAN (ed.) Shorter Notes An early Flandrian peat in the Lea valley OWEN BEDWIN 162 A Neolithic adze from Harlow (Gilston) H. MARTINGELL 162 An early Iron Age jar from North Shoebury NIGEL BROWN 164 Middle Iron Age decorated pottery from around the Thames estuary NIGEL BROWN 165 Maldon landfill site: excavations 1990 STEVEN WALLIS 167 A fragmentary medieval grave cover and the site ofWoodham Waiter church S. AINSWORTH et. al. 170 Bradfield, St. Lawrence's church PAUL BARFORD 173 Medieval pottery from Castle Hedingham DEBORAH PRIDDY 174 Pentlow Hall DAVID ANDREWS 176 The extended intruded cross-passage D.F. STENNING 180 Excavations at Fairycroft House, Saffron Walden, 1990 HOWARD BROOKS 183 Book reviews Essex on the map A. STUART MASON 188 Meagre Harvest ARTHUR BROWN 188 Essex bibliography 1991 A. PHILLIPS and P. SEALEY (compilers) 190 Cover illustration: An early second century bronze jug and patera from a rich burial at the Duckend car park site at Stansted. Originally bought as a matching set, the jug and patera are 15 cm high and 18 cm in diameter, respectively. Both items were on display when the Queen opened the new passenger terminal at Stansted Airport in March 1991. (Photo by Pete Rogers). Essex Archaeology and History 22 (1991), 1-12 Some finds of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Essex by Paul R. Sealey Renewed exploration at Plane Hall Farm in Fingringhoe has decorated with red glass would have had a flamboyant red produced more finds from a dispersed late Bronze Age founder's and golden finish, quite unlike their modem appearance, ex­ hoard of the Ewart Park phase. Details of two more such hoards cept when recreated on aggressively conserved pieces such are given, from Hacton and Little Oakley. Three unassociated as the Santon (Norfolk) harness mounts (Megaw 1970, pi. items of metalwork of the period are reported: a middle Bronze Sa for colour photograph). Running inside and along the Age palstave from Easthorpe, a late Bronze Age socketed axe main edges of the mount are incised lines which, like those from Little Horkesley and a fragment of another from South of the radial hatching, may have been cut with a graver, Green in Fingringhoe. The rim of an early Bronze Age collared rather than cast (Lowery et al. 1971, fig. lb, 172, pi. lOb). urn from Great Tey is described. Two items of late Iron Age C.J. Going pointed out to me that with an openwork mount horse gear are included: a horse brooch from Bocking and a such as this, the pattern formed by the voids is hardly less bridle-bit from Fingringhoe. significant than the design of the plate itself. No attempt has been made here to reconstruct the complete layout of the original mount. Too little survives to invite such an ex­ Introduction ercise, one that might be made all the more difficult (and This paper reports some recent archaeological fmds notified the fmished product so satisfYing) by the asymmetry in which to Colchester Museums; the opportunity is taken to publish the Celtic artist so often revelled. in full some material in the collections. Inasmuch as a miscellany of this kind can have a theme, it is Bronze and Discussion: the only parallel for the mount is a near com­ Iron Age metalwork. plete harness trapping in the Polden Hill (Somerset) hoard (Harford 1803, 92, pi. 22 no. 3; Fox & Pollard 1973, 34; Brailsford 1975, pi. 22b, fig. 4d, 228 no. 3). Fox (1952, 52-4; Docking Iron Age Horse Brooch 1958, 123-4) demonstrated that these fittings were horse Discovery: the horse brooch was found by N.T.H. Bone in brooches; he envisaged them employed on a team of two January 1988 with a metal-detector on level ground on the ponies fitted with a yoke, drawing a chariot. On the rear face east bank of the river Blackwater in Bocking (Braintree) at of the Polden Hill brooch is a rectangular strap-loop, a cat­ TL 7627 2438, just north of Bradford Bridge. It was pur­ chplate and the remains of an iron pin. The strap-loop chased by the Museum (accession number 1988.87). secured the piece to the cropper (the strap that ran from the neck to the tail of the pony). A caparison (horse blanket) Description: what survives of the horse brooch is a flat bronze draped over the animal was fastened by the pin. A minimum openwork fragment, now bent slightly out of true (Fig. 1 of two such horse brooches made up a set, one for the yoke no. 1). Weight 13.05 g. It is 4.95 cm long, 2.8 cm wide and (neck) end and the second for the tail end. Other brooches 0.2 cm thick. The (scratched) rear face of the mount is plain. could be added to the cropper to enhance the effect. Along the main surviving edge of the front face is a pelta Material in the Polden Hill hoard assigns its deposition (a crescent form with three curved sides) filled with radial securely to the mid 1st century A.D. There is nothing hatching. Moving inside, there are two crescent rings (a small specifically Roman in the assemblage and it may well have circle set inside a larger one, lying close to its edge); the ac­ been buried in the face of the rapid Roman drive west to tual crescents are also filled with radial hatching. The smaller the Bristol channel in the years immediately after A.D. 43 circles are cells with a diameter of 0. 7 cm, in which is set (Fox & Pollard 1973, 35; Brailsford 1975, 234). Iron Age red champleve enamel. Parts of the red surface are horse brooches are not otherwise attested in the British Isles. discoloured; a missing flake shows the inlay is barely 0.5 It is apparent that they developed on the eve of the Roman mm deep. This enamel is the opaque sealing-wax red glass invasion and we may therefore suggest a date of c.