284
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
"Old Father Thames" to the foot of the Castle-hill. The tide now rises 15 feet
at Hole Haven. Doubtless what is now the narrow Mill Creek (the mill is gone
and forgotten) was a navigable channel in the 14th century, as during the con-
struction of the railway sunken vessels, with quantities of ragstone within them,
were found at a depth of 12 feet from the present surface.
Among the ruins of Hadleigh Castle were Parietaria officinalis, Sedum acre,
S. reflexum, high up, Reseda lutea, Cynoglossum officinale, Verbascum thapsus,
Bryonia, fennel, elder and burdocks, chiefly Arctium minus, were noticed.
Near by were some fine maples ; but perhaps the most noticeable feature was the
luxuriant growth of Onopordum acanthium and other thistles, including, as pointed
out by Mr. Wright, Carduus crispus var. acanthoidis, C. tenuiflorus, Cnicus
lanceolatus and C. arvensis. On the slopes below the Castle, Ononis spinosa and
Lathyrus nissolia were found, fine plants of the latter in fruit; and on a visit a
short time before the President and Secretary found here L. hirsutus (rare)
Dianthus armeria and Hyoscyamus.
Mr. Fitch captured a specimen of the somewhat local butterfly, the "Marbled
White" (Melanargia galatea) on the Castle-hill.
From the vantage-ground of the Castle-hill, Canvey Island was seen across
the Ray, but time would not permit of any attempt to visit it, although several
members did so on the Monday following the meeting, as detailed further on. The
Island, which comprises about 3,600 acres, was embanked by Joas Croppenburgh
(a Dutchman) in 1622, and he received the present "third-acre lands" from Sir
Henry Appleton (the future famous cavalier) in consideration of his sufficiently
"inning" the Island. A raised causeway across the creek, fordable at low water,
connects it with South Benfleet.
Norden's map (1594) shows that "Canuey Islands" were then six in number :—
"Nere the Thames mowth, below Beamflete, are certaine ilandes, called Canuey
Ilandes, low merishe grounds ; and for that the passage ouer the creeks is vnitt
for cattle, it is onlie conuerted to the feeding of ews." And Camden says that
"the ground is so extremely low, that 'tis often all drowned, except a few of the
highest hillocks, which in such a case serve for a retreat to the sheep. Of these
there are commonly fed four thousand in this island, the meat of which is of a very
excellent taste. I have observed young men with little stools under them milking
them, as women in other places, and making cheese of Ewe's milk in the little
dairy-houses or huts built for that purpose, which they call 'Wiches.' "
A move was then made westward along the marshes to the foot of the curiously
broken chain of London Clay hills (some of which appear to still bear traces of
scarpment and entrenchment) to South Benfleet, or Beamfleet, notable as the
favourite landing-place of the Danish Free-booters of the ninth century.
The "work" of Haesten the Dane may be faintly traced on the low hill by the
railway station. It was here that King Alfred's army stormed Haesten's fortress,
pillaging it and burning his ships, A.D. 894, and so utterly destroyed the Danish
power in the Thames.3
In the pools at various points on the low ground between Leigh and Benfleet
Lemna minor and Alisma plantago were observed.
At South Benfleet, the little "Hoy Inn" was requisitioned for tea, and the
good-natured landlady had a bad hour in almost impossible attempts to meet the
3 See "The Danish Camps at Benfleet and Shoebury, &c." Trans: Essex Archaeological
Soc : ii, 1st ser. p. 75.