206
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Chelmsford Museum) assembled, the "Directors" being Mr. F. Chancellor, J.P.,
the President, Mr. E. A. Fitch, F.L.S., and Mr. Edmund Durrant. In breaks
and other vehicles the party was driven along; the Baddow Road, and so through
the fine avenue of old oaks, elms and beeches to the site of "Great Graces,"
Little Baddow, where Mr. Chancellor described the interesting features of the
remaining fragments of this once important manor house, which takes its name
from the family of De Gras, the ancient owners. An account of the former
possessors and the present condition of the building may be read in Mr. Chan-
cellor's magnificent work, "The Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex,"
page 64. The fragments still remaining consist of a portion of the south-east
wing, and one of the grand old chimney shafts, and inside one of the old square
staircases with cut newels and ballusters. It is now a farm house.
The weather was lovely, and the ramble through Blake's Wood to "Old
Riffhams" (where Mr. Charles Smoothy hospitably received the party), a struc-
ture also anciently a manor house, which was probably originally a wooden
structure, and afterwards encased in brickwork. Mr. Smoothy's knowledge of
natural history is well known; the greater part of his collection of birds (pre-
sented by himself) is on loan at the Chelmsford Museum ; but attention was
directed to a Honey-Buzzard, specimens of the Long and Short-eared Owls—all
local specimens, and a Golden-eyed Duck, and a Swan, shot in company with
Mr. Fitch on the Blackwater, and a Danbury Raven killed by mistake for a
Carrion Crow. Close by the house in Holly Grove were shown nests of the
Kingfisher, Flycatcher and Wren—the last-named without a dome, under an old
coat.
The ramble through the Holly Grove was a delightful experience, the abund-
ance of Foxgloves and the pretty White Fumitory (Corydalis claviculata) in
full bloom being noticeable features ; while the abundant flowers of the Yellow
Pimpernel (Lysimachia nummularia) in the damp rides was a welcome sight.
Dr. J. E. Taylor acted as botanical "Conductor," and readily imparted infor-
mation to non-botanical members on the numerous plants found in the woods.
Then over Lingwood Common (from whence a vast panorama of lowland Essex
was visible), through "Bell Hell Wood," concerning the origin of the name
of which old Holinshed relates a wild legend.
Leaving this wood the party passed up the meadows to Danbury, where,
at the ancient and well-known "hostelry called the 'Griffin,' near Baddow"
(immortalised in these words in the introduction to "Waverley"), a cup of tea,
enjoyable after the long ramble, and more substantial viands, awaited the pedes-
trians. The "Griffin" is also mentioned several times in Strutt's romance of
"Queenhoo Hall."
Danbury is a village of great interest. It has been commonly described in
local guide books as the "highest land in Essex" ; but this is an error, as parts
of Epping Forest exceed it in height, and the highest elevations in Essex are
found in the north-west parts of the county (see ante, p. 172). The Club visited
Danbury on August 13th, 1881 (Proc. E. F. C, vol. ii., liii.), and in the report of
the. meeting on that occasion much information about the village and church
will be found. The Early-English church (St. John the Baptist) stands within
the bounds of Danbury Camp, figured in Morant's "Essex," and more accurately
by Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell in Essex Naturalist (vol. iv., 138). The ancient
and interesting features of the church were pointed out by Mr. Chancellor,
notably the three cross-legged wooden effigies of Crusaders, presumably the St.