3-011-777 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Bartlow Hills (Grave Mounds of the Romans), Essex, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. G. Collins, of '...four tumuli, arranged in a row and varying in size, the largest being 142 ft. in diameter at the base and 44ft. high...Excavations...distinctly prove them to be Roman works. Many curious and valuable sepulchral relics were discovered in them, but they were unfortunately lost in the fire which burned down Easton Lodge, near Dunmow, the seat of Viscount Maynard, on whose estates the hills are situated. It was feared that these venerable landmarks were condemned to destruction in order to accommodate a feeder of the Great Eastern Railway...the Archaeological Institute...at once addressed a remonstrance to the railway directors. At a recent meeting of the institute, Mr. Purnell, the secretary, read the correspondence which had passed with the Great Eastern Railway Company on the subject. The engineer-in-chief, in one of his letters, states that it was never his intention to injure the hills, but he admits his design to bring the proposed line between two of them. Here the matter at present rests. It is to bo hoped that the good feeling of the railway directors will cause them to spare these famous Roman grave-mounds'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.