THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 265
" Many stories of miracles connected with St. Edmund's body are to be
read in the chronicles and numerous were the people who flocked to and
enriched the shrine and monastery, but in A.D. 1010 the hordes of Turchil
the Dane landed near Ipswich to pillage the fair Saxon country-side, and then
dreading lest the priceless relics should fall a prey to the invaders, a monk
conveyed them to London (sundry miracles helping him on the way).
" Peace came to England, and in 1013 the third translation took place,
though Alphum, Bishop of London, hotly fought to retain the holy bones in
the city. The body of the king was conveyed in solemn procession to Bury St.
Edmund's and here our local interest begins, for the monks travelled by an
ancient way (now mostly dwindled into bridle-roads and footpaths) which led
from the Roding valley here, and hence to Clare and Bury. Here, where St.
Edmund's remains rested for some days, pious hands are said to have erected
this rude wooden Church ; but personally I think it probable the building was
here already, for Greensted was an old-time village on the king's highway
when the road through Ongar did not exist and Ongar was but a little
settlement on a cross road. As such it remained till Eustace of Boulogne
held it under the Conqueror, and Richard de Luci made it his home in the
days of Henry II.
" That however, is another story. Our interest is in the timber nave of
this little church, associated as it is with the romantic journey of the remains
of Edmund; and long may its timber walls stand a lasting memorial of East
Anglia's king, martyr and saint."
The evening was still stormy as the party traversed more pretty meadow
paths to the little station at Blake Hall.
VISIT TO WALTON-ON-NAZE AND
FRINTON, ESSEX.
Saturday, June 7TH, 1902.
The stormy and unsettled state of the weather during the previous few-
weeks had rendered it undesirable to hold any meetings, especially on the
coast. But on this day a visit was made to the picturesquely situated
towns of Walton and Frinton in order, to view the fast diminishing exposures
of the celebrated Red Crag formation, and to study the rapid denuding action
of the weather and sea on the soft cliffs of this part of the coast. As the
programme said "it would be a startling object-lesson in geology."
The Club has visited Walton on two previous occasions; first on
September 14th, 1889 (Essex Nat. iii., 230-32) when the late Dr. Taylor was
the demonstrator, and again on June 7th, 1890 (E. N. iv., 129-32) under the
guidance of Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Holmes. In the reports of these meetings
much information on the topography and geology will be found. The
literature on the geology of the neighbourhood up to the end of 1888 is
catalogued in the "List of Works on the Geology of Essex," pp. 61-86 of vol.
iii. of the Essex Naturalist. The maps are Geol. Sur. Map 48 S.E. with
adjoining part of 48 N.E. and 48 S.E. with accompanying memoirs to these