Monument record TQ 77 NW 207 - Remains of brushwood causeway with possible Roman origins

A complex of timber and brushwood features marks the terminal of a long‑lived causeway and ford/crossing that provided access to and from Essex. Surviving stakes and wattling are visible in situ, and a related foreshore ridge (recorded separately as HCW 02) has trapped a substantial artefactual assemblage against its seaward face. The route appears to have originated in the Roman period and was reused and adapted into the 19th century, indicating a long continuity of passage and management at this point on the shore.

Ceramic and building‑material evidence strongly signals Roman activity. Concentrations of pottery span the mid‑1st to mid‑2nd centuries AD, while ceramic building material (CBM) includes fragments of hypocaust tile, implying a nearby heated structure. The recovery of a glass aryballos—a small toiletry bottle typically associated with bathing—further suggests that a bath‑house or heated amenity once stood close by but has since been lost to the river through shoreline retreat. To the east of the main alignment, brushwood floors have been noted, and a fish‑trap basket was recorded in the vicinity, pointing to a landscape of mixed transport, industrial and subsistence uses.

North of the present sea wall the causeway resolves as two parallel banks set roughly forty metres apart, separated by an eroded swale that slopes down to foreshore level. Parallel brushwood and stake alignments appear to form lanes guiding movement onto the firmer upper foreshore. These elements likely represent later phases of refurbishment, implying that the route continued to be engineered and re‑engineered well beyond the Roman period. The ceramics currently encountered across the structure are mixed and mobile, many being washed upslope from the river, but the density and character of the Roman material—together with the CBM—indicate that this was a staging area for ferrying or portage, and plausibly a point of administrative observation overseeing traffic across the crossing.

Stratigraphically, the site presents as a low‑tide ridge with marsh‑edge exposures to both west and east, focusing artefact accumulation and periodically revealing constructional details as scour alternates with silting. The causeway lies within a wider complex: it is associated with HCW 02 (the low‑tide ridge) and HCW 03 (a salt‑working locale), with additional timber structures (HCW 01a/b) nearby, and forms part of the broader HGM/OB foreshore complexes to the west and east.

The condition of the terminal is fragmentary, with ongoing exposure and localised loss driven by tidal erosion and ship‑wash. Recommended actions include timber species identification and radiocarbon dating, precise GPS alignment of stake rows to reconstruct phasing and route geometry, and continued opportunistic recording during exceptionally low tides to refine the plan and document any further evidence for surfacing, lanes, or associated installations. (1)

<1> Steve Trim, 2026, SHORNE/HIGHAM THAMESIDE ROMANO-BRITISH SITES 2012-2015+, HCW 01 (Unpublished document). SKE58794.