The Norsey Wood Society works closely with Basildon Borough Council, the owners of Norsey Wood Nature Reserve, an ancient woodland which is also
a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the edge of Billericay in Essex, UK
Neolithic
Mesolithic and Neolithic
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.
Neolithic Finds
Similar Neolithic 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 contact us at norsey1@hotmail.co.uk.