116 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
was inspected. The building has been regarded as Saxon in origin, but
the recent discovery of fragments of ornamented stone work of a
transitional character between ths Norman and Early English styles
confirmed a suspicion previously aroused by the construction of the
building. The large gravel pits between Wicken and Arkesden next
received attention. Mr. Whitaker pointed out that the 40 feet of
gravel and sands shown 111 these pits were at a higher level than the
deposits pierced in the Newport wells and probably overlay them. The
gravels were classed by Searles Wood as Mid-Glacial, and he confirmed
their glacial age. They appeared to run in under the great deposit of
boulder clay which covered the highest ground in the district, and were
found underlying that deposit in many local well borings.
The drive was continued to Wood Hall, Arkesden, where they were
received by Mr. Charles Beadle, and light refreshments were partaken of.
Great interest was taken in the curiously carved chimney beam, part of
the original house and probably of the time of Henry VIII. ; while the
appointments and gardens of the fine old residence were greatly admired.
A hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Beadle closed a short but most enjoyable
visit. In Arkesden village the enormous elm tree, one of the largest
in the county, was noticed, and the group of large stones collected in the
fordway below the old bridge. These were pronounced to be remnants
from the great sheet of sandstone and conglomerate, or pudding-stone,
which once covered wide areas in the Eastern and Southern counties
overlying the chalk. This formation had been gradually worn through
and broken up in past ages, and only the larger and heavier fragments
remained on the present surface. They were best farmed "Sarsens,"
an ancient word for stones, and were not "boulders" in the geological
sense of transported rocks, foreign to the district in which they were
found. After an inspection of Arkesden church, the drive led through
lanes to Duddenhoe End, where they were entertained to lunch by Mr.
J. F. Wilkes in one of the fine old timbered barns on his estate.
The President called upon Mr. Morris, B.Sc., to offer some remarks
upon the chief object of the day's expedition, the areas of Boulder-clay
land which have been lying out of cultivation for many years. Mr.
Morris, who has made a special study of the vegetation of these waste
grounds, described the relation between the geology and botany of the
district leading up to the development of the characteristic vegetation
which has covered the waste grounds since their abandonment 20 to 30
years ago during the great depression of corn prices. He outlined the
succession of peculiar phases or plant associations, which finally converted
those areas into thick thorn scrubs. A general discussion took place
in which Mr. Wilkes confirmed the statements that it was the lands mostly
expensive to work which went soonest out of cultivation in times of de-
pression, and that the reason for the position of the oak woods on the
high ground was that they undoubtedly represented patches of original
forest, left untouched in the gradual extension of arable ground because
they occupied the areas where the clay was heaviest and most unprofitable
to work.
After lunch the party walked across a belt of cultivated land
on the Boulder-Clay. The fine crops of wheat and beans were noted, A