120
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Inside the church is a tablet to the memory of the learned Dr. William Gilberd
(or Gilbert) physician to Elizabeth and James, one of the heralds of the
dawn of philosophy ; he was born in Colchester in 1540, and lived and was
buried there. He wrote principally on the properties of the magnet, and was the
first to use the word "electricity." His works prove that his knowledge of
electricity was superior to anyone for many years after his time. It will be
remembered that Prof. Silvanus Thompson read a paper before the Club last year
on Gilberd's life and works, which is now being prepared for publication in the
Essex Naturalist (see E. N. i., 94). It should be noted that this church
(and in fact all old buildings in the town) is largely constructed of Roman building
materials, and that it (in common with many other buildings in Colchester) was
considerably shaken and damaged by the earthquake in 1884 (see "Report on
the East Anglian Earthquake of April 22nd, 1884. Essex Field Club's Special
Memoirs," vol. i.).
At half past twelve all returned to the "Cups Hotel," where luncheon was
served, and during which Mr. G. F. Beaumont "exhibited" (in the physicians'
sense of the word) a large supply of that notable Essex fruit—the "D'Arcy Spice
Apple." Mr. Beaumont and Dr. Laver were full of praises of the excellent qualities
of this apple. It is of medium size, and from greenish brown ripens autumnally
into a red tint ; it can be preserved in capital condition for the table if kept in
the dust in which grapes are imported. It probably takes its name from the
D'Arcy family, by whom it may have been introduced into this country from
France, or else from the fact that it thrives best in the district around Tolleshunt
D'Arcy, Essex.
After luncheon the main party, under the leadership of Dr. Laver, was
driven by Lexden and Stanway to Layer Marney and Copford, but owing to some
mis-direction two or three of the carriages went astray, and the errant travellers
only reached Layer Marney in time to take part in the visit there.
The great lines of Earthworks at Lexden and Stanway, which run from the
river Colne on the north to the Roman River on the south, have long attracted
the attention of antiquaries. In devising hypotheses to account for their exis-
tence, writers appear to have fallen into error by not clearly distinguishing the
remains of Roman roads from entrenchments which are probably of earlier
date. It is now generally conceded that the most westerly earthworks are the
remains of the ancient boundary of the British Oppidum of Camulodunon.7 The
evidence of the Itineraries of Tacitus, and above all of the actual British and
Roman remains, indicates that the site of Camulodunon was at or near Colchester.
Possibly at first it was a mere fastness for occasional refuge in times of danger,
answering to Caesar's description of a British town (as a place with a tangled wood
round it, and fortified with a rampart and a ditch), but with advancing civilization
it assumed more the character of a permanent settlement, until it became the
"royal town" of Cunobelinos (the Cymbeline of Shakespeare), and afterwards
the Colonia of Claudius. "The place which is thus identified as the ancient
fastness of the Trinobantes" (writes Mr. Cutts in his recently published volume
on Colchester) "is bounded on the north and east by the river Colne, on the
south by the smaller stream which has the significant name of the Roman River,
and these natural defences are completed on the west by the ancient earthern ram-
7 "The locative occurs on coins as Camuloduno. Dunon is the word which makes din, a
fortress or town, in Welsh, and the whole name seems to have meant the town of Camulos, who
appears as one of the gods of Gaul."—Prof. Rhys, "Celtic Britain."