THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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but, as it was wished to keep the spot secret, the party did not
visit it. The soil is chiefly Bagshot gravels and sand. The interest of
the Wood is chiefly connected with the remains of early occupation,
abundantly found there. Our late member, Colonel B. R. Branfill, carefully
described these in the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, in
1895. The wood contains two sepulchral tumuli, and a great quantity of pottery,
apparently Romano British, has been found. In it is a pit, known as
the "Danepit," and a group of saucer-shaped hollows or "pit-holes" are
described by Colonel Branfill. At a spot where gravel had been dug near the
centre of the wood, Mr. Hogg and Mr. Miller Christy found a small deposit of
pot-fragments and broken Roman bricks, showing in the bank of the pit. The
earthenware was afterwards submitted to Mr. A. G. Wright, of the Colchester
Museum, who unhesitatingly declared it to be Roman or Romano-British.
Other Roman pot-fragments, found in the same wood, many years ago, were,
Mr. Wright added, previously in the Museum. It seems probable that a
Roman dwelling of some kind existed in the wood. 
Mr. Turner paid considerable attention to the wild plants of the wood, under
considerable difficulties, as rain came down heavily during the time. He
describes the flora observed as partaking of the typical characters of the Essex
Woodland, with the exception of a larger number of ferns than usual.
Amongst the plants noted in Norsey Wood were :—
Lastrea dilatata Carex binervis
Lomaria spicant Hypericum pulcrum
Teucrium scorodonia ,, humifusum
Holcus mollis ,, perforatum
Lysimachia nemorum Brunella vulgaris
Scutellaria gallericulata Scrophularia nodosa
Conopodium denudatum ,, aquatica
Oxalis acetosa Erythroea centaurium
Mentha aquatica Deschampsia caespitosa
Fragaria vesca Juncus glaucus
Ranunculus flamula ,, effusus
Galium uliginosum ,, lamprocarpus
,, saxatile Potentilla tormentilla
Stellaria graminea Malva moschata
Cardamine hirsuta
Although Mr. Turner and Mr. Christy are especially acquainted with our
Essex Mollusca, and the afternoon was, one would have thought, damp enough
for snail enjoyment, we did not notice a single specimen of either slug or snail
—a remarkable experience in an ideal day for Mollusca.
The damp prevented much search for Lepidoptera; but, the following day,
Professor Meldola, Mr. Miller Christy, and Mr. Frankenstein spent in Norsey
Wood, and Professor Meldola has kindly given us the entomological results, as
follows :—
"Unfortunately the weather continued to be most unfavourable, being dull
and cold, with occasional rain, so that no night collecting was attempted. Of
butterflies, the only species seen were Epinephele janira and hyperanthes, and a
female Euchloe cardamines in excellent condition served to show the remarkable
lateness of the season. Of moths, the ordinary common species for the time of
year were noted, viz., Cabera pusaria, Melanippe montanata, Hemithea strigata