404 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Votes of thanks were given to Mr. Shenstone and Prof. Boulger, and
after taking leave of their kind host, the party was driven back in the cool of
the evening to Witham Station to catch trains to Ipswich, Colchester,
Maldon and London, having spent an exceedingly pleasant day, and hope
was expressed that this would be the commencement of many such reunions
of East Anglian naturalists.
MEETING AT BRAINTREE AND 181ST ORDINARY
MEETING.
Saturday, October 1st, 1898.
Directors:—Rev. J. W. Kenworthy, M.A. : E. T. Newton, Esq., F.R.S.,
F.G.S. ;T. V. Holmes, Esq., F.G.S., F. Anth. Inst.; and W. H. Dalton,
F.G.S.
This excursion was arranged at the suggestion and kind invitation of the
Vicar of Braintree, the Rev. J. W. Kenworthy. The Club had not before
visited the town, which, however, presents many points of interest to the
naturalist and archaeologist in reminiscences of the friends and co-workers of
John Ray, and in the numerous relics of early occupation discovered in the
neighbourhood. One principal object of the meeting was to afford an oppor-
tunity for the careful examination of the collection of mammalian remains,
flint implements and other works of man, &c., which Mr. Kenworthy has
obtained during the past fourteen or fifteen years, and to view the pits and
sites in the vicinity of Braintree where these were found, which, in his
opinion, were of considerable geological and archaeological importance.
Braintree stands upon the old Roman "Stane Street" from Verulamium
to Camalodunum. The site was occupied by Britons, Saxons, and Normans.
There is an earthwork of British or Roman construction on the military way,
and the Church is stated to stand within an ancient encampment. The town
still retains many XVI. Century domestic houses and hostelries, and upon
these last in the old days its prosperity depended. A room, traditionally-
noted as occupied by Queen Elizabeth on her visits, yet remains in its ancient
state, with frescoes and armorial bearings.
Samuel Dale, F.R.S., botanist and zoologist, lived at Braintree and
Bocking, and was the friend and contemporary of Ray and of Dr. Benjamin
Allen, author of the "Natural History of the Chalybeat and Purging Waters
of England" (1699), and "The Natural History of the Mineral Waters of
Great Britain: To which is added some observations of the Cicendela or
Glow-worm" (1711). A notice of Allen by Mr. Fitch appeared in the Essex
Naturalist, vol. iv., pp. 192-3. Mr. Kenworthy possesses an interesting
memorial of the Braintree naturalist in his "Common-place Book," full of
observations on many subjects. Mr. Fitch says: "Dr. Allen's remarks and
observations on the life-histories of various insects, especially the glow-worm,
and also on the oyster, snails, &c., show him to have been a close and acute
observer, in every respect far in advance of his age.''
The assembly place was the parish Church of St. Michael, where the
members of the party were met by the Vicar at about n o'clock. The points
of the Church were demonstrated by Mr. Kenworthy, who gave here and