158 CONFERENCE OF THE EAST ANGLIAN
of colour—pink chestnuts and hawthorns, the laburnum with its golden
tassels, white lilac, and the dark metallic foliage of the copper-beech; and
over all there is an air of peacefulness, so that one of the party was probably
not far wrong when he compared the valley of the Stort of to-day to the valley
of the Lea in the days of Izaak Walton."
" From Stortford the members drove along the old Roman stone street,
with a stop at the church of Little Easton, notable for its half-effaced wall-
paintings in the nave—the Crucifixion, the Burial, and some others on the
South side, and a St. Christopher on the North. There is a peculiarity about
ancient wall paintings—they grow upon one, and become more distinct the
longer one gazes, till the half-effaced figures seem so familiar that one wonders
Oak Tree in Easton Park, Essex.
From a Photograph by Prof. Meldola.
there was ever any hesitation as to deciding what they represent. This church
contains one of the few brasses which remain of a Knight wearing the Garter
badge, and in the Maynard Chapel are some fairly good monuments—one of
them occupying the site of the old altar, as is evidenced by the piscina on the
South side. Opposite the church are the old stocks, with an upright post
fitted with iron holdfasts to confine the hands also.''
At the church the party was received by the Rector, the Rev. A. L.
Whitfield.
Our member, Mr. G. E. Pritchett, F.S.A., very kindly gave a demonstra-
tion of the numerous monuments, very many being those of members of the