Mucking
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Mucking is a hamlet and former parish adjoining the Thames estuary in southern Essex, England. It is located approximately 2 miles south of the town of Stanford le Hope in what is now Thurrock unitary authority.
Its name, meaning 'the family of Mucca' (Mucca most likely being a local chieftain) is of Saxon origin and indicates human settlement here for well over a millennium. Mucking's geographical location on flat marshland at the very mouth of the River Thames indicates that settlement in the area by Germanic invaders from the Continent probably occurred at a relatively early date; indeed, an outline of a now abandoned nearby Saxon village, West Mucking, was discovered from aerial photographs in the 20th century.
Although the population of the hamlet is now less than one hundred, it thrived in Victorian times, boasting small shops, a large rectory and the mediaeval church of St John the Baptist (both of the latter buildings have now been converted to private houses, with access to the church graveyard possible only with prior written permission). The hamlet also gives its name to Mucking Flats, the mudflat on the estuary to the east of the village, one of Essex's Sites of Special Scientific Interest and once the site of a small lighthouse.
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[edit] The Mucking Archeological Excavation
Mucking was the location for a major archeological dig ahead of excavation from the gravel quarry that swallowed it up. The site was discovered by crop marks in the soil photographed by Dr St Joseph in 1959. The excavation was directed by Margaret Jones and lasted from 1965 to 1978. In addition to major finds from the Saxon period, other artefacts from the site span the period from the Stone Age through to the medieval period. [1]
The Saxon settlement excavated at Mucking was extensive with more than 230 buildings. The site contained two cemeteries[2]. Many of the buildings were sunken huts although there were timber halls which were possibly occupied by the higher status families. The settlement gradually moved north over the course of two hundred years after its establishment in the fourth century.
[edit] Mucking Marshes Landfill Site
[edit] Notes
- ^ M U Jones, Mucking and the early Saxon rural settlement in Essex (in D G Buckley (Editor), Archaeology in Essex to AD 1500)
- ^ Nigel Brown (compiler), Splendid and Permanent Pageants, Essex County Council, 2000
