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 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS AMBRESBURY BANKS. This fortified position, lying about 2 miles from Loughton Camp, we may next describe, although its relics show it to be somewhat later in date. Variously known as Amesbury, Ambersbury and Ambresbury, 1 it is situated in the forest, but close to the modern high road at the fourteenth milestone on the way from London to Epping, partly in the latter parish and partly in that of Waltham Holy Cross. Although at one time this earthwork, from its somewhat angular form was supposed to have been constructed by the Romans, the exca- vation which was carried out by the Essex Field Club in 1881 under the direction of the late General Pitt-Rivers led that eminent authority to conclude that the camp was of British origin, but whether it was erected before or after the Roman conquest he considered could only be decided by further exploration. The excavation which was made consisted of a section near the centre of the north-western side of the camp. The objects found comprised several fragments of imperfectly-baked pottery without ornamentation and a few flint flakes.* The original ditch was found, like that of Loughton Camp, to be triangular and pointed at the bottom, a feature somewhat unusual in ditches of British camps. The escarp rises at an angle of 45 and the counter-scarp probably at the same angle ; the fosse was 22 feet wide at the top and 10 feet deep, and as the annexed plan shows has become silted up 7 feet from the bottom.* NAVESTOCK : Fortification Wood. About 4 acres are enclosed by a low bank, with shallow moat traceable on three sides and part of the fourth. At the southern end of the enclosure is a deep excavation forming a pond nearly across from east to west, possibly more recent work than the banks. During some period long past, the bank was more exposed to weather and it is consequently reduced in height, while its moat or fosse has been partially filled up by the deposit of leaves of many summers. The dense growth of tangled wood has of late prevented further destruction of the bank, but at the same time it renders detailed exam- ination of the work very difficult. The late Rev. S. Coode Hore, in a paper read before the Essex Field Club in 1894, said he was 'strongly inclined to think this earth- work and wood may be identified with a certain wood known in the year 1222 as The Defence of Navestock. . . .' We find in an eccle- siastical visitation of that date known as the Domesday of St. Paul's 4 the following entry : * Stephen son of Robert holds. . . half an acre, juxta defensum de Nastok. . .' The expression might suggest the existence of some military work 1 Some local guides add to the attraction of the camps by styling this the Roman Camp, and the Loughton earthwork Boadicea's Camp, but there is no authority for either statement. 1 The flakes may have belonged to the soil when the rampart was constructed. 8 See Essex Field Club Transactions, ii. 55-68. Domes Jay of St. PauPs, Camden Soc. 1858. 279