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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Buxton explained what had already been done with regard to the planting of
this wide expanse of arable land with seeds of forest trees and bushes. Mr. E. M.
Holmes, F.L.S., who was of the party, examined the grasses at present growing
on the land with the view to advising Mr. Buxton, and recommending what species
should be sown so as to reproduce as closely as may be the natural sward of this
part of the old forest.
Some striking woodland plants that could not escape notice were the hand-
some Wood-spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides), the Earth Nut (Conopodium
denudatum), and the Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon), all of which were
very plentiful. Among the moths noticed were Dasychira pudibunda (the
"Light Tussock Moth'') and Eurymene dolobraria (the "Scorch Wing"),
the latter uncommon insect being found by Mr. Dalton.
With regard to the geology and physiography of these parts of Hainhault
Forest, Mr. W. II. Dalton, F.G.S., made some notes, which he has kindly
embodied in the following paragraphs :—
" Proceeding north-eastward from Grange Hill station, the gentle slope of
London Clay is capped with a thin sheet of boulder clay, the most south-westerly
fragment of that deposit in the county. At the pathway turning from the high
road about a quarter-of-a-mile west of All Saint's Church, the boulder clay is
replaced by loam for a few hundred yards, but recurs yet further eastward for
nearly a mile. The route followed by the Club skirted this patch of drift on the
south, passing alternately from it to the subjacent London Clay and back again, in
the sinuous woodland path, and finally ascended a further rise of the London
clay surface to the top of Cabin Hill, 300 feet above Ordnance Datum. This
crowned by a spur of the Lower Bagshot Sands, extending from this point north-
ward for a mile and a half. The fine, somewhat loamy sand, contained thin
bands, cemented by oxide of iron into compact stone, whilst the bareness of the
ground, and the presence of abundance of sorrel, suggested the continuation of
the process by which iron-pyrites in the sand is slowly converted by contact with
air and water to sulphuric acid and per-oxide of iron. A sample of this 'iron-
pan' was secured for the Club's collection of rock-specimens."
" The broad landscape visible from the commanding position near Cabin Hill
contained little to note of geological interest, except the sudden rise of Shooters'
Hill, due to the great fault which runs along the Thames Valley from Greenwich
to Erith, and thence by Laindon Hill to Tiptree Heath. Most of the intervening
area, beyond the rather sharp fall of Cabin Hill, consists of gravel deposited by
the Thames at various stages of its descent from the level of Fairlop and.
Balking Side to its present position, a lowering of its bed of nearly 150 feet.
The gravel of North Kent, of corresponding age and level, contains enormous
quantities of Palaeolithic flint implements, evidently manufactured on the pebbly
banks of the river, and probably the same will be found to be the case with the
high-level river-gravels of Essex, when duly searched. But it must be laid down
as a point of the greatest importance, that such implements be found actually
embedded in the gravel, not merely lying in the surface-soil. Also, the level
of site is of supreme value as fixing the approximate date, the lower terraces being
necessarily far more modern than the higher."
The ramble was then continued through the upper part of the woodlands to the
"Beehive Inn" at Lambourne End, where tea was served.