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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
portulacoides. A. littoralis, A. serrata, A. babingtonii, and A. laciniata all occur
here. The sea-walls were covered with Hordeum maritimum and Festuca
rottboelloides ; by inland pools we found Scirpus maritimus, Carex vulpina, and
Phragmites; and in the ditches a Potamogeton identical with that from Cricksey,
Lemna gibba and L. trisilca. Dr. Murie found Geranium dissectum, and Mr.
Wright Senecio erucifolius; but to our great regret neither time nor weather
allowed us to visit the west end of the island, the locality for the beautiful
"Fyfield Pea," Lathyrus tuberosus.4 A few elms, willows, elder, hawthorn, and
blackthorn bushes constitute the sole trees on this flat but interesting little island,
which in all its features is singularly like Fowlness, and the naturalists left it with
regret that field meetings, like all other things, must have an end.
Field Meeting at Saffron Walden, Ashdon, the Bartlow Hills, &c.
Saturday, June 22nd, 1889.
This was the Club's second visit to the district. The Club had a very pleasant
excursion thither in April, 1884, when, in addition to many local noteworthy
places, Lord Braybrookes magnificent mansion, Audley End House, was inspected.
The town of Saffron Walden is one of the most picturesque in Essex, and contains
objects of interest to the antiquary and naturalist, second to few towns in the
eastern counties. The name comes probably from Weald (or Wald), a wood, and
Dane, a vale, the praenomen from the Crocus sativus, which for so many years was
grown in the neighbourhood, and which is represented on the common seal of the
town. (See Mr. Joseph Clarke's paper in the Essex Naturalist, vol. i, pp. 9—
16). Among the relics of ancient life at Walden may be mentioned the pre-historic
earthworks surrounding the town on the W. and S.W. (known as the "Battle,"
"Paille," or "Repell" Ditches), the remains of the ancient Castle, the curious
"Maze" on the Common, the Saxon cemetery in Mrs. Gibson's grounds (specimens
from which may be seen in the Museum, and the excavations of which by the late
Mr. G. S. Gibson were so fully described by the late Mr. Ecroyd Smith in Trans :
Essex Arch : Soc : vol. ii, (N.S.), pp. 311—334); the quaint gabled houses, notably
the old "Sun Inn" (reputed to have been Gen. Fairfax and Cromwell's quarters,
1647), and the fine church of St. Mary, in the Perpendicular style, most parts of
which date from Henry VII. and VIII. (see "Handbook of the Parish Church of
Saffron Walden"). And notice should be taken of the beautiful and extensive
garden, with its "maze" of yew-hedges, now thrown open to the public by the
owner, Mr. Lewis Fry.
To the naturalist the Walden district is notable as occupying part of the very
limited chalk area in Essex, and as being the locality for some of the rarest and
most curious plants in Essex. It is within the range of the true Bardfield Oxlip
(Primula elatior) described so fully by Mr. Christy in our "Transactions" (vol. iii,
1884). Walden also occupies a niche in the annals of botany as having been the
home of the late Mr. G. S. Gibson, whose "Flora of Essex" was one of the best
books of the kinds for many years after its publication. (See Prof. Boulger's
Memoir in "Transactions" E.F.C. vol. iv, with portrait.) The Museum is noticed
later on, and there are also several private collections of value, particularly that of
Mr. Joshua Clarke (Humming Birds, Birds of Paradise, and Pre-historic Imple-
ments), visited by the Club in 1884.
4 See note in Mr. Clarke's paper on plants peculiar to Essex in the present part of the Essex
Naturalist.