18
THE LIBRARY TABLE.
times and now; maps of parts of Hertfordshire and Essex from the ''Britannia,''
and an excellent reproduction, by the photo-lithographic process, of Norden's
map of Essex, 1594. This last map, by Mr. Winstone's kindness, will shortly
be published in the Essex Naturalist.
Concerning the Hamlet of Epping Street, or Heath, the author gives the following
observations :—
"The boundaries of the settlement or lordship seem to have been in the west, the
Bury Lane, Lindsey Street on the east, and towards the north the lane now known
as Love Lane, which runs from the Bury Lane to Lindsey Street, and appears to
have been the boundary between Tippendene and Epping Heath. But the ques-
tion presents itself—why was a cold, exposed situation, open to the effects of every
wind, selected for a settlement of freemen, contrary to the custom which prevailed,
of choosing sheltered places for villages, as well as for manor houses, when so
much land, in situations sheltered by hills, like that occupied by Coopersale,
Theydon Bois, Weald Gullet, or Potter Street, remained Folkland, and at the
disposal of the King, with the consent of the Witan, or assembly of freeholders?
For an answer, attention becomes directed, by Reynold's bequest, to a beacon
which he mentions as standing ''near to the common road towards London."
Assefield deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon word "asce," or "ahse,"
ashes or cinder, points out the more exact position of the Beacon to have been
either in it or its immediate vicinity. The importance of the spot for such a pur-
pose is manifest, for from it, looking down the valley of the Roden, can be seen
the Kentish hills ... so that a signal-fire on the Kentish hills could be
repeated on Epping Heath, and convey intelligence to the neighbouring manors;
and even the Hertfordshire hills can be seen from the other side of the ridge, not
many yards distant, through a break in the hills, which form the Uplands . . .
The town of Epping, then, may have had its origin in the settlement on the heath
of a few freemen, whose duty it was to find the wood and attend at the Beacon, as
the services rendered to the King for the land which they occupied in his lordship;
and it may not be going too far to suppose a Saxon king, some time during the
number of years in which the Danes made frequent inroads into England, recog-
nised the importance of the position for signalling the approach of an enemy or
for calling together the freemen who had to render military service; and for that
purpose formed the settlement."
Only one hundred impressions of the book were struck off, but the author has
generously placed copies in the libraries of the Loughton Public Hall and the
Essex Field Club.
Fungi for Church Decoration.—When visiting near Maidstone two or three
years ago, I was struck with the beautiful effect produced by a judicious use of
Fungi in ecclesiastical decoration. It was "Harvest Festival" at the village
church. Each inside window sill was thickly bedded with moss and ferns, and a
few brightly-coloured fungi were inserted at short intervals; a similar combination
was used round the pedestal of the pulpit. The result was charming, all the more
so because it was natural. The species employed most freely was the brilliant
Agaricus muscarius, which grows in great profusion around and about. I
frequently found in the neighbouring woods decayed specimens measuring fully
nine inches across the pileus. Is the Kentish Rag formation specially suitable for
this species? It certainly is so for most kinds of fruit trees.—A. Lockyer,
Woodford.