140
STRAY NOTES ON ESSEX.
There is an account, dated 1791, of the sinking of a deep well at East Hanning-
field parsonage, which, as it is not mentioned by Mr. Whitaker ("Geology of
London and Part of the Thames Valley") may be usefully given here :
" It was begun June 21, 1790, and water, when the workmen, from such tedious
labour, were at the moment of despair, was found May 7th, 1791. Thirty-nine
thousand five hundred bricks were used, without cement, in lining this well, the
soil of which, for the first 30 ft. was a fine, light brown, imperfect marl ; and
though fossilists may ingeniously choose to discriminate the different strata, yet,
except from shades of a deeper colour and firmer texture, occasionally, but slightly,
mixed with a little sand and a few shells, the same soil, to a common eye, without
more material variation, continued to 450 ft., where it was consolidated into so rocky
a substance as to require the being broken through with the mattock. A bore then
of 3 inches diameter and 15 feet in length, was tried, which soon, through a soft
soil, slipped from the workman's hands and fell up to the handle. Water
instantly appeared, and rose within the first hour 150 feet, and, after a very
gradual rise, now stands at 347 feet, extremely soft and well flavoured. This
source is supposed to supply the well at Battle's Bridge, about six miles further,
and lower than Hanningfield, which is 336 feet in depth, and the water over-
flows the brim. At Bicknacre Priory, 11/2 miles in descent from Hanningfield, is
a well (nearly through neglect choked up) only 4 feet in depth."
It would appear from the details given that the London Clay was pierced
through, and water obtained from sandy beds beneath, belonging to the
Woolwich and Reading series. It is possible that the "fine light brown,
imperfect marl" at the surface was the Boulder Clay, but if so, it is strange that
the difference between it and the underlying London Clay escaped notice even
from the "common eye" of the narrator. The rocky substance at a depth of
450 feet may have been at the base of the London Clay. A glance at the map
of the Geological Survey shows East Hanningfield standing partly on London
Clay, partly on Boulder Clay, so that the nature of the surface rock at the well
remains uncertain. And there can be little doubt that the well at Battle's Bridge,
which is from 40 to 50 feet above ordnance datum, while East Hanningfield is from
180 to 200 feet, is supplied from the same source. The height of the surface at
Bicknacre Priory is about 150 feet.
A correspondent, writing in 1796, about Netteswell, near Harlow, gives the
following account of the fossils :
" Here are found in the gravel-pits, nigh the Cross, belemnites of a chocolate
colour, radiated from a close centre. Also, in the gravel pits nigh the church, the
Echinites galeatae of Birkenhout, and in the ploughed land are found the cordiformed
echini, called by Brookes Brontiae.
" The Oculatus lapis, or pudding-stone, is likewise not uncommon here, and is
called by the inhabitants the "breeding stone." There is one of an immense
size near the Bury, the lower part of which is not so compactly conglutinated as the
upper. The cement is of a white colour, and the pebbles of which it is composed
are chiefly small flints."
A writer about Epping, in 1806, greatly admires the thick ivy covering the
north side of the tower, "where the loquacious sparrow nestles in security, the
clamorous inhabitant of deserted castles hides his powdery pate, and the dappled
starling serenades his sitting mate." He also notes, from the dates on the grave-
stones, that many of the inhabitants attained to very advanced ages, and finds
that a large number of old people were then living in the town, among them two
each aged more than too years. Another correspondent of "The Gentleman's