The Mersea Barrow is a low grass mound near the centre of the island — the oldest visible structure on Mersea and one of the largest Roman burial mounds in England. It dates to around 100–130 AD and may mark the grave of a high-status Roman or Romano-British individual. The mound is freely accessible and looks modest from a distance, but its age and the quality of finds associated with it make it a remarkable survival on an island that was clearly part of Roman Essex.
Mersea Barrow
A story
When the barrow was excavated in 1912, archaeologists found a lead box containing a glass urn with the cremated remains of a Roman, probably buried in the first or second century AD. The urn is now in Colchester Castle Museum.