214 MINERAL WATERS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX.
Monro refers"7 to this spring ; but, as usual, he merely retails
in abridged form the information given by Allen.
Mr. Dalton writes that, in the absence of evidence as to the
exact position of the well, one may surmise that the water came
from the base of the Glacial-gravel on the west side of Mark's
Hall Park.
(8).—The Woodham Ferrers Spring.—Another mineral spring
first recorded by Allen in 1699 (and, no doubt, discovered by
him) was in the parish of Woodham Ferrers, which lies about
15 miles south-south-west from Braintree and seven south-west
from Chelmsford. He speaks68 of it as a "Chalybeat Purging
Water," and says :—
" The earth cast out of this well contain'd many discolour'd parcels of
mellower earth, the colours of which were two—that of brimstone and a ferru-
gineous—and which yielded iron upon essay, when only well wash'd. And, as
at Epsam, these veins attend the Selenites, so the same stone is plentifully found
here. Most of them were in one half, resembling the rhomboid : the other
[sort] had a differing figure [caused] by the declining of the two opposite grand
planes till they determin'd at an edge, which was semi-circular, as in the figure.69
In parcels of this loam inclos'd, I found great plenty of vermicular bodies which
were mere iron ; of which metal, one Tubulus Marinus and several pieces I
brought away with me and reserve. The stone or imperfect marcassite, which I
call Lapis Lutoso-vitriolicus here, had many shining particles in it, and consisted
of parcels divided by a thin wall of gypsum or trichitis and precipitated some
iron when dissolved in aqua fortis and diluted with fair water.
" The water was clear, of taste chalybeat, but had more of the nauseous
sweetish taste of chalybeate waters not devoid of bitterness."
He proceeds to detail at length how the water behaved when
treated with various chemicals and when boiled.
In his second book (1711), Allen says70 :—
" This spring is of the level kind, being a well in a plain ground. The
soil, lays, and stones are before described ;71 only I may add that I found, in the
clay cast out, several vermicular bodies, of the bigness of a pretty large wire,
some almost straight or turned a little as a worm lies, and one Tubulus marinus,
being involuted, all of iron. This spring had a disadvantage in its standing.72
By want of air, passage, and frequent emptying, it is liable to be corrupt and
feted ; which, otherwise, it is not, aud might be of good use."
In the engraved plate prefixed to his second work, Allen
67 Treatise, i., p. 268 (1770).
68 Chalybeat and Purging Waters, pp. 158-160 (1699).
69 The figure is missing from the copy to which we have had access.
70 Nat. Hist. of Mineral Waters, p. 35 (1711).
71 He means in his first book (see above).
72 He means, apparently, that it was not a running spring.