The archaeological sites: Romford/Dagenham sites
Marks Warren Farm
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High above this part of the Thames valley, with views from Hornchurch to the City, lies Marks Warren Farm, best known for the medieval moated manor of Marks named after Simon de Merk who bought it in 1330.
Carefully sited to enjoy the advantages of the parish of Dagenham and especially the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, the moat and farm are now mostly in Barking and Dagenham. The house was demolished in 1805.
The medieval moat lies in thick undergrowth and a fragment of 'ridge-and-furrow' survives nearby. The only other visible monuments on this farmland are the World War II anti-aircraft gun emplacements set back slightly from the crest of the hill. These were set up to defend Hornchurch Aerodrome in the valley below.
The earliest traces of human activity are some Mesolithic microliths from what may have been a tree-throw pit.
During the Late Bronze Age, a large roughly circular enclosure, about 100m in diameter, with deep ditches and two entrances was constructed on the highest point of the gravel spur. Pottery from the bottom of the ditch dates to the Late Bronze Age. A Late Bronze Age metalwork hoard was found nearby and may be contemporary with the use of the enclosure. When the ditches were almost silted up people dumped quantities of Early Iron Age pottery in the parts near the entrances. Many of the pots are fine and decorated. Such a dump could be a termination rite to mark the end of the use of the site.
Around the time of the Roman conquest a large triple-ditched enclosure was constructed. This site was approached by a trackway, to one side of which was a later Roman flint and tile wall.
A small building, perhaps a cottage, was built here in the medieval period.
As the Liberty was just over the border from the Manor of Barking and free from the Abbey's restrictions, windmills were allowed and a number were set up taking advantage of the windy site. In 1365 the Manor was sold with a windmill called 'Le Newemille', possible the large one built on the prehistoric. The Drakes Mill on the north end of the site at Marks Gate is said to have been the largest in Essex.
An inventory of 1479 describes the manor, listing crops of wheat, rye, oats and peas. The rest of the land was pasture. Stock kept were 14 cows on a parcel of marsh 5 miles away, as well as 12 cows, a bull, a calf, young bullocks, 20 goats (for milk for cheese), 17 ewes and lambs, a ram, 40 pigs and piglets, 3 carthorses, 2 plough-oxen, 11 plough-horses and some old stock inland, as well as some cattle on other farms. Hens, geese, ducks and peacocks remained at the farmyard.
Today Marks Warren Farm is used for mixed arable farming. This is the only manor in Dagenham still farmed today, by John Fowler and his family.