THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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barge Salisbury having been for the third time placed at the disposal of the
Council, it was determined to repeat the voyage from Hertford downwards, which
was so much appreciated by the members on July 14th, 1894. It was felt
that those joining the party would have ample opportunities of becoming
acquainted with the quiet pastoral beauties of Izaak Walton's river, and of
seeing the rich field the district affords for the researches of out-door
naturalists.
The party embarked on board the Salisbury from the towing path, near the
road from the railway station, some having travelled down by the 9.30 train from
The River Banks near Hard-Mead Lock, with Ware in the distance.
[Drawn June 6th, 1896, by H. A. Cole.]
London, while others had taken advantage of the drag conveying the materials
for tea and the Secretaries' books and specimens from Buckhurst Hill and
Loughton. The barge had been admirably fitted up, and the cabin afforded
table space for the exhibition of Mr. Webb's fine collection of the British
Land and Fresh-water Shells, which was much admired and studied during
the day.
A general account of the River Lea, as an important source of the water
supply of London, with many antiquarian details, was given in the report of the
first voyage from Hertford on July 14th, 1894 (see Essex Naturalist, vol. viii.,
pp. 205-213), and in the account of the voyage from Bromley to Waltham
Abbey, undertaken last year (E. N. present volume, ante, pp. 87-99), so that little