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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.—REPORTS OF
MEETINGS.
VISIT TO SAFFRON WALDEN DISTRICT, ASHDON,
WIMBISH, WENDENS AMBO, &c.
Easter Monday, April 24TH, 1905.
Conductors : The President (Mr. Miller Christy, F.L.S.), Rev. C. E. Barnes,
and Mr. Guy Maynard, Curator of the Saffron Walden Museum.
The object of this Meeting was mainly to renew our acquaintance with the
interesting plant, the true Bardfield Oxlip (Primula elatior, Jacq.), by visiting
several woods in the charming district in which it is a native. Mr. Christy is the
authority on the distribution and variation ill this country of the Oxlip, and very
full information will be found in his papers on the subject in vol. iii. of the
Transactions of the Essex Field Club and in the Journal of the Linnean Society
vol. xxxiii.).
We had also the benefit of the presence of Mr. W. Bateson, F.R.S., and Mr.
E. R. Punnett, M.A., the well-known students of variation and "Mendelism"
in plants and animals.
The company assembled at 10 o'clock at Saffron Walden, and a public
breakfast was served at the "Rose and Crown" Hotel, the President in the
chair. By the kindness of Mr. Maynard each guest was furnished with a
specimen of the Oxlip, the objective of the meeting.
Afterwards the very interesting museum was visited, under the direction of
the Curator. Some account of the museum will be found in the report of a
former visit to Saffron Walden in Essex Naturalist (vol. iii., pp. 290-1).
The company was then conveyed in brakes to the several woods, where the
"Primulas" were in profusion. And here Mr. Christy and Mr. Bateson gave a
running demonstration and dissertation on Primula elatior, certainly one of the
most local and interesting of Essex plants.
In the afternoon the drive was continued to the pleasant village of Wendens
Ambo, where the Rector (the Rev. C. E. Barnes) met the party at the Church.
The architecture was commented upon by Mr. Hugh McLachlan, F.R.I.B.A.,
and Mr. Barnes showed the ancient Registers, which he had recently bound up
and restored.
The Rector and Mrs. Barnes most hospitably entertained the party at tea a
the Rectory.
After tea a short Ordinary Meeting (the 238th) was held, Mr. Miller Christy
President, in the chair.
New Members.—Mr. Jonathan Seabrooke, The Elms, Grays, and Mr.
Joseph Wilson, Hillside, Avon Road, Walthamstow, were elected Members.
The President, in the name of the Club, warmly thanked the Rector and Mrs.
Barnes for their great kindness and hospitality, and referred to the fact that it was
on Easter Monday 25 years ago that the first Field Meeting of the Club took
place, the meeting-place being Ongar (see Proceedings E.F.C, vol. I.,
pp. viii.-x.)
Mr. W. Cole seconded the vote of thanks, and said that he was particularly
grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, inasmuch as such aid as that they had afforded
very materially lightened the difficulties in arranging meetings on such days as
Bank Holidays.