164 ESSEX WORTHIES.
Shells from the brick-field at Copford, where John Brown laboured
so persistently and so well.
On Saturday, March 8th last, I visited, after a lapse of over
thirty years, the village of Stanway, a place that was so familiar to me
when a boy. I found the church that John Brown used to attend
much altered, "restored" and enlarged. The rector, Dr. Hill,
kindly went over the church with me, and showed me the entry in
the parish register of John Brown's burial on December 5th, 1859.
His tomb is on the north side of the church, a little to the east of
the porch, and on it is the following inscription :
" SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
"MR. JOHN BROWN, F.G.S.,
" For many years a much respected inhabitant of this parish,
"who died November 28th, 1859, Aged 79 years."
The tomb-stone is a small one, and rises but little from the
ground. It is surrounded by an iron rail. The rail is very rusty,
and the inscription was illegible from the growth of lichens which I
had to scrape away before I could with certainty make out the words.
Dr. Hill thought that this tomb was put up by public subscription,
but I can find no record of this. It is more than probable that it
was erected by his relatives. A little to the east of John Brown's
tomb lie the remains of his favourite sister, Mrs. Wagstaff, and on the
other—the south side of the church—the Reverend F. Wagstaff lies
buried, his body having been removed from Highgate Cemetery
where it was originally interred. This church, or, strictly speaking,
chapel, of St. Allbright's, stands on the south side of the high road
from Colchester to London, and is about two miles from Mark's
Tey Station, and three miles from Colchester. After taking photo-
graphs of the church and tomb I walked towards Colchester to see
the farm-house which John Brown occupied for about thirty years
and which he filled with fossils, minerals and shells to illustrate his
favourite subject. The old house is not altered further than that the
leaded diamond-paned windows have given place to modern wooden
casements, and an iron palisade has been put up along the road in
front. The house stands by the side of the high road just against
the third milestone from Colchester. A little further up the road,
going towards London, there still stands the old and small round
cottage of one floor which formerly was tenanted by the Stanway
turnpike keeper. The gate, of course, has been gone long ago.