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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Meeting at Chelmsford, Saturday, February 9th, 1889.1
This was the first of a series of "Winter Meetings," as they may be called, which
it is proposed to hold in various towns in the county, and the objects of which
are explained in the last Report of the Council (see ante pp. 42—43.)
The members travelled to Chelmsford, by early afternoon trains, from various
parts of Essex and London, many being most hospitably entertained at luncheon
by fellow members living in the town. The very large party, including some of
the "tomes" of the "Odd Volumes Club" and other local friends, assembled in
the Essex and Chelmsford Museum, in Bridge Street, at 2 o'clock, where they
were met by the Mayor (Frederic Chancellor, Esq.), the President, and Mr.
Edmund Durrant, Hon. Secretary to the Museum, who acted as "Conductor"
during the afternoon.
A meeting was held at Chelmsford and Danbury on August 13, 1881, of which
a full report will be found in the "Journal of Proceedings" for 1881 (vol. ii, pp.
xlvi—lvii). At that meeting the Church was visited, and Mr. Chancellor gave
an elaborate account of its history, but the town was not touched upon. Mr.
Chancellor has kindly allowed the Editor to make the following extracts from a
paper prepared by him for a meeting of the Essex Archaeological Society in 1884,
but which has not yet been published excepting in a local newspaper, and which
will serve well as a summary of the early history of the town :—
Old Chelmsford.
By Frederic Chancellor, F.R.I.B.A., &c.
[After briefly sketching the condition of the district in the days of the Britons,
tracing the changes effected by the Roman invasion, and pointing out the early
importance of Chelmsford on account of its situation at the confluence of two
rivers, and on the great highway between London and Colchester, Mr. Chancellor
continued :—]
With the final conquest of Camulodunum by the Emperor Claudius in A.D. 45,
the strength of the Romans in this part of the country was consolidated, and
towns sprang up along the great military road which they had constructed from
Londinium to Camulodunum. In the Itinerary of Antoninus, made in the year
320, the great Roman roads throughout the country are laid down, with the
various towns therein and their distances apart.
The road from London to Colchester is laid down as follows :—
From Londinium to Durolitum (supposed to be Romford) 15 miles.
From Durolitum to Caesaromagus (supposed to be Chelmsford), 16 miles.
From Caesaromagus to Canonium (supposed to be Kelvedon), 12 miles.
From Canonium to Camulodunum (supposed to be Colchester), 9 miles.
The point we are interested in is the identification of Caesaromagus with
Chelmsford. Some have suggested that Caesaromagus is Maldon ; others, again,
that the old Roman road went through Writtle.
I have prepared a plan, enlarged from the Ordnance Survey, showing the present
high road from London to Colchester ; and inasmuch as the Romans formed
1 By inadvertence, the report of the meeting on February 23rd was printed out of its order
of date (see ante p. 87).