MINERAL WATERS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX. 225
from the bank of the River Thames, and near the summit of the
remarkable, steep-sided, almost-isolated, gravel-topped hill, about
one hundred feet high, on which stand the Hall and Church, both
overlooking the wide marshy river-side levels spread out below.
The pump which draws water from the well is in the brew-
house at the back of the farm-house, and the well itself is
believed to be beneath the floor of the dairy—that is to say
it is beneath the house. The farm yard is very close to the
house. A sample of water obtained on the 2nd November 1907,
yielded the following results :—
This water contains sufficient saline matter in solution to
render it unsuitable for many domestic purposes, but not
sufficient to justify its being considered a "mineral" water. Its
special constituent is the sodium nitrate, which is derived from
the oxidation of manurial matter by the soil. During such
oxidation, much carbonic acid gas is produced : hence this and
similar heavily-nitrated waters are often regarded with great
favour, since they "sparkle" when first drawn and have a
cooling saline taste.
The "Rector's Well" at Tilbury also still exists. If is in
"Church Field," on the site of the old Rectory (of which no
other trace now remains109"), near the south-eastern extremity of
the hill above mentioned, about fifty yards from the point at
which the hill begins to rise from the level marshes and about an
equal distance from the road which leads up the hill to the
church. It is in an arable field below the Church, the very
sandy and gravelly soil of which was planted with vegetable
marrows at the time of Mr. Christy's visit. As the mouth of the
well is open and is not fenced round or marked in any way, it
109a It was pulled down (as the Rector, the Rev. J. Bonamy Dobree, has been good enough to
inform us) about a century ago, when the present rectory, half-a-mile distant and near the
top of Gun Hill, was acquired. It is marked on the 6-in. Ordnance Map as "Mineral Well,
disused."