Mucking was "a particularly extensive Anglo-Saxon settlement, of at least 100+ people, commanding an important strategic position in the Lower Thames region; it may have functioned as a meeting place and mart for surrounding areas on both sides of the Thames". Its name is of Saxon origin and indicates human settlement here for well over a millennium. The meaning is usually given as 'the family of Mucca'. However, Margaret Gelling has suggested alternative interpretations - 'Mucca's place' or 'Mucca's stream'. 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. Mucking was host to a small iron smelting industry because of its workable deposits of iron ore. Spongy iron blooms were produced and had their impurities worked out by a process known as 'Mucking'. It is not known if this process is connected to the village name or a coincidence.
Modern Mucking
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. 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.
Archaeological excavation
Mucking was the location for a major archaeological 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. The Saxon settlement excavated at Mucking was extensive with more than 230 buildings. The site contained two cemeteries. 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 4th century.
