A Study of the Strood by W.E. Duane. Chapter 2. Page 7.

The Origins of the Island and the Strood contd.

... nature of the pottery in them. The purpose which they served has long been a matter for speculation. By some they have been regarded as salt works: by others as cattle shelters, human habitations, potteries or glass factories. To settle the mystery the Essex Archaeological Society set up the Red Hills Exploration Committee 1906-7.

At previous excavations made in August 1892, made by Mr. W. Cole and four colleagues at Bower Hall Farm, Mersea Island, they found fragments of pottery which were examined by me are clearly fragments such as are found on Romano-British sites".

This finding disposes of the theory that the remains are pre-historic - but it does help bolster the theory that the Island was once part of the mainland, since almost identical fragments of pottery have been found in the Langenhoe site on the opposite bank of the channel.

Evidence to support the view that there has been some sort of causeway since Roman times was put forward at the beginning of this century. In 1915 excavations took place at Barrow Hill, which is situated on rising ground a little distance from the Strood. The mound was opened by members of the Essex Archaeological Society and in it was found, enclosed in a leaden ossory, a beautiful perfectly preserved glass vase containing cremated human bones.

Examination of these remains has put the date of the interment at the latter half of the first century and the construction of the Barrow as the work of a non-Roman people ...

Date: 1965