226 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
tree called the 'Doodle Oak,' it is of much interest. Dr. Allen says 'it was
proved, &c.' He does not give us the proof, but he was a careful observer, as his
MSS. show." 2
Very considerable amount of information respecting Hatfield Forest, the
Barrington family, and the History of Hatfield Broad Oak, will be found in
Mr. G. A. Lowndes's papers in the Trans : Essex Archaeological Society.
Several boulders were noticed near the beautiful lake, and a charming view was
had of some of the Fallow Deer, of which there is a large herd. A peep was also
had of the Red-deer ; three stags, three hinds, and a fawn were seen. The small
herd of Red-deer sprang from a hind hunted into the forest in 1875, and then lost
by the hounds. (See Essex Naturalist, vol. i, p. 189.)
The forest was quitted at the Woodside Green gate, and carriages were again
entered. The route led past Hallingbury Place, the residence of Mr. Houblon.
It had been intended to visit the Church of St. Giles, under Mr. Pritchett's
guidance, but the time would not permit. Mr. Pritchett was the architect em-
ployed in its restoration in 1874, and he published an account of the Church in
the Trans. Essex Arch : Soc : vol. v.
The Church contains much Norman work, and Roman bricks were largely used
in its construction. During the restoration, the chancel-arch, of square Roman
bricks, some of considerable size, was uncovered, and it a very fine example of
its class; a drawing by Mr. Pritchett is given in the memoir above referred to.
Among the points of interest to the ecclesiologist may be mentioned the rood-stair
made within the thickness of the wall on the N. side, and the curious triangular
piscina, with sides formed of two Roman tiles, in the E. wall of the nave, about
12 feet from the ground—both these are unusual features in small country
churches.
Then Wallbury Camp or "Dells" was passed (visited by the Club last year,
Essex Naturalist, vol. ii, pp. 225-6), and the church of the Virgin Mary at
Hallingbury Parva was pointed out, but a halt could not be called. It is of very
early date, perhaps pre-Norman, and many Roman bricks and tiles were worked
into the doorways and windows, and in the angles of the building.
A visit was made to a gravel-pit, at South House Farm, Little Hallingbury,
where Mr. Pritchett pointed out the site where, in 1876, several cinerary urns,
some filled with ashes and bones, apparently calcined, and smaller vessels, were
found. Mr. Pritchett said : "About seven of these urns were got out whole—.
they are evidently of early date, perhaps of British manufacture ; they are of dark
pottery; this gravel pit is on flat land, and not far distant from Wallbury encamp-
ment, which is considered by many to be a British Oppidum ; it is of oval form,
enclosing about thirty acres. This encampment is reputed to have been also
occupied by the Romans. A continuous line of Roman military occupation on the
eastern side of the river Stort may be traced, starting at Stansted, in Essex, and
2 At the meeting discussion took place as to the meaning of the word "Doodle" in connection
with this oak. Mr. Fitch has since communicated some references to this word:—In Mr. James
Britten's "Old Country and Farming Words" (English Dialect Soc. 1880), we find from John
Worlidge's "Dictionarium rusticum," 1681, Dool, a green balk or mound between the ploughed
lands in common fields. From Morton's "Cyclopedia of Agriculture," 1863, Dool (Suff., Scotl.),
a boundary mark in an unenclosed field, Dools (Ess.), the grass border round arable fields. In
Dengey Hundred the rough grass, &c. mown round the fences of fields is still known as "the
dooles." Between haytime and harvest, it is common for all our men to go "dooling ;" the
produce gathered is generally known as "doole hay." Halliwell's "Dictionary" gives the word
as Dole (4). In the List of South and East Country Words in Ray's "Proverbs," we have :
A Dool; a long, narrow green in a plowed field, with plowed land on each side it; a broad balk.
Forte a Dale, a valley, because when standing corn grows on both side it, it appears like a valley.
This interesting word is probably a continued use of the Saxon daelan, to divide. E. A. F.