History Index also see the page The Medieval Deerbank

Some History of the Wood

The Bronze Age

The Bronze Age was the period between the Neolithic and Iron Ages, from approximately 2500 BC/BCE and 700 BC/BCE in Britain, when metal (copper and bronze) was first used for tools and weapons.

The enclosure of the woodland in the medieval period incidentally provided protection for traces of far earlier activity, some aspects of which were visible as earthworks whilst others remained unknown until disturbed by gravel extraction in the 19th century.

The Wood formerly contained two Bronze Age burial mounds, also known as barrows or tumuli. The surviving example is located on the gravel plateau to the east of the valley, about 20 metres from the southern edge of the Wood (see the Easy Access Trail map). The barrow is circular in plan with a low domed profile, measuring about 15m diameter and 1.5m high.

In 1865, the Revd E. L. Cutts supervised the excavation of a trench from the western edge to the centre of the mound. Fragments of Roman pottery and an indecipherable bronze coin were uncovered in the process, perhaps indicating some disturbed later internments, but the central grave group of three large inverted cinerary urns (vessels containing cremated human remains) clearly points to Middle Bronze Age origin. The second barrow, which now no longer exists, lay on the opposite side of the Wood alongside Norsey Road and was also trenched by Cutts in 1865. A central group of seven urns was found, only one of which contained cremated remains. It was investigated once more in 1895, disrupted by residential developments in the 1950s and finally overlain by a house and garage around 1965. This second area is not a part of the scheduled Ancient Monument.

It has been suggested that there may have been at least one other mound in the Wood, perhaps in the Deerbank area, as they have been found elsewhere in groups of three in the vicinity of springheads. It is also thought that the surrounding area may have been wooded at the time of burial. Pollen analysis at some sites has shown that to be the case. This would have provided a secretive place, appropriate for the veneration of ancestors.

A Chance Discovery of a Mesolithic Axehead

During the summer of 1994, a chance find was made by a young boy walking in the Wood. His sharp eyes spotted a stone by the side of the ride and he realised that it was no ordinary pebble but something far more significant. He was a stranger to Norsey and in fact lost at the time; consequently he was later unable to say in which part of the Wood he had made his find.

He took the flint back to his older brother who insisted that the find be reported to the police, where it was duly logged as 'lost property'. An official of the Billericay Archaeological Society later identified the item as a Stone Age axehead and it is largely through his interest and persistence that the find was duly processed. After the legal period of time allowed for claims of ownership had elapsed, the police released the axehead and it was passed to the Essex County Archaeological Office for expert appraisal.

The item was eventually returned, accompanied by a short report and an excellent line drawing. It was dated to the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age), about 8000-6000 BC/BCE. It was a flaked-flint axehead made of poor quality grey flint with some staining. This staining is rust-like, indicating that, in lying buried for a considerable number of years, the axehead had been affected by waterborne iron compounds. Apart from that, one can only conjecture, especially as to how it came to the surface. It may have emerged during gravel digging operations in the distant past, or when trenches were dug during World War Two, at the time when Norsey Wood was used for military exercises. Perhaps it lay hidden until the storm of 1987, when many large trees were uprooted and brought buried stones to the surface.

Similar finds have been recorded at Norsey. Two Neolithic (New Stone Age) flint skinning knives were found at Break Egg Hill in 1955, and a Mesolithic tranchet axe - a piece of sharpened flint held in the hand - was discovered in the Jackson's Lane/Norsey Meadow area. In the early 1900s, the owner of the Wood at the time found a hand axe in the north-west part of Norsey.

It is reasonable to suppose that other prehistoric finds have been made in the Wood in the past and never reported. If anyone knows of such a find and would like to tell us about it, or indeed of the whereabouts of any ancient items from Norsey, we would be delighted to have details, so please email us.

The surname of the boys involved in the discovery of the axehead was Dumont and they hailed from the Netherlands. It is believed their first names were Onno and Almer, although that is not certain. If by some good fortune, a reader knows of these individuals, please contact us by email. We would like to acknowledge their public-spiritedness.