14 OLD LOUGHTON HALL.
Wear leaves the course of the old valley altogether, and turning to
the east, makes its way to the sea at Sunderland, and, principally
passing through sandstones and shales of the Coal-measures, and
cutting through the Magnesian Limestone just before entering the
sea."
And on the same page it is stated that, for this reason, coal-
miners in Northumberland and Durham sometimes find that a coal
crops up underground "against a mass of Boulder Clay that fills an
ancient (pre-Glacial) rocky valley, of which the plain above gives no
indication."
Of the south-east of England he writes :—
" We find that in places the Ouse and its tributaries in Bedford-
shire, and also many other streams, flow through areas covered with
this (Boulder) clay, and have cut themselves channels through it
in such a way as to lead to the inference that parts of the valleys
in which they run did not exist before the Boulder-bed period, but
that they have excavated their courses through it and the underlying
Oolitic strata, and thus formed a new system of valleys."
See also Mr. Whitaker's "On a Deep Channel of Drift in the
Valley of the Cam, Essex," Essex Naturalist, 1889, vol. iii.,
p. 140. (An abstract of a paper read at the Newcastle meeting of
the British Association.)
OLD LOUGHTON HALL.1
By WILLIAM CHAPMAN WALLER, M.A., F.S.A.
FROM the days of Harold, Godwin's son, down to the time of
James I., the Manor of Loughton knew no resident lord.
First the canons of the Holy Cross at Waltham ; and then, after
the dissolution of the monasteries, the kings and queens of England,
in their order, numbered it among their possessions. By both the
demesne lands were let out to farm, and the royal owners sometimes
even leased out the profits of the Manor Court.2 But it is probable
that, from very early times, the site of Loughton Hall was occupied
by a manor-house, which was inhabited by the firmarii, or lessees, of
the demesne. At all events, in 1522, we find one of them under-
1 This paper, although almost purely historical and antiquarian, may be admitted into our
pages. inasmuch as it relates to one of the most important of the Forest Manors. And further,
Mr. Waller has collected so much original matter, not to be found in the county histories, that we
feel sure our readers will pardon this incursion into the preserves of our friends the Essex
Archaeological Society !—Ed.
2 Duchy of Lancaster : Leases; Div. xi., No. 35 (18 May, 19 Eliz.).