130 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
is unusually picturesque. The physiography of the neighbourhood is shown
in the Map illustrating Mr. Holmes' "Notes on the Ancient Physiography of
South Essex" (Essex Naturalist, Vol. ix., pp. 193-200). As regards geological
structure, this district consists of London Clay, above which, at Hockley,
Rayleigh, and Hadleigh, there is an outlier of Bagshot Sands, on which,
again, there are patches of old High-level Gravel. Consequently the ground
on which those places stand, is of unusual elevation, and commands very fine
views.
At the Station the party was welcomed by the Rev. R. C. M. Rouse,
Rector of Rayleigh, who very kindly placed his carriage at the service of some
of the ladies, and who accompanied us the whole afternoon, giving in the
pleasantest way all the local information in his power.
On leaving Hockley Station the building of classical aspect still known as
Hockley Spa, and which was once the Pump Room, comes into sight, a few
yards away on the road towards Rayleigh. Hockley Spa had a considerable
reputation for its mineral water in the early years of the Victorian era. The
waters were first mentioned in this connection by Dr. Benjamin Allen, of
Braintree, in the 2nd edition of his book, The Natural History of the Chalybeat
and Purging Waters of England, &c. (1711), but their celebrity mainly arose
from the sinking of a well in the garden of a Mr. and Mrs. Clay (circa 1840),
who "had determined upon building for themselves a cottage in this elevated
region, they having escaped the relaxing and weakening effects of a long
residence in Cheltenham." Soon the waters were puffed by the fashionable
medicos of the day, and a detailed account of the. well and- the supposed
medicinal virtues of the waters is given in Dr. A. B. Granville's Spas of
England, 1841. But the fashion of "taking the waters" has died out, and for
many years the Pump Room has been unused for its original purpose, though
the "Spa Hotel," erected at the same time as the Pump Room, is still an inn.
Mr. Holmes quoted a few remarks from Mr. Whitaker's Geol. of Lond. and part
of the Thames Valley on the Spa and the local geology ; and Mr. F. Hughes,
F.C.S., gave a verbal report of his analyses of the water, which were not then
completed.
[A full account of the history of the Spa and of the chemical nature of
the Hockley waters, by Mr. Hughes and Mr. Cole, is reserved for a future
number of the Essex Naturalist, when Mr. Hughes' experiments shall
have been completed.]
Leaving the "Spa," which in its present condition presented by no
means a cheerful and festive aspect, the party walked along the road to
Rayleigh as far as the "Ball fan," and then turned northward towards St.
Peter's Church. The views northward along the route are very fine and were
much enjoyed, the low narrow water parting between the valleys of the
Crouch and Blackwater being visible between the higher ground of Althorne
on the east and that between Woodham Ferrers and Purleigh on the west.
And nearer, southward of the Crouch, was seen the site of the famous battle
between Edmund Ironside and Canute, known as that of Assandun, or
Ashingdon. In one of the most elevated of the fields, along the pleasant
paths of which we were strolling, Mr. Holmes gave an address on the
physical geography of the land, its geological features and some notes of the
history of the spot in Saxon times. Mr. Holmes illustrated his remarks with
a large series of geological maps, and the facts recorded in them could be