THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
119
An inscription on the alabaster tomb of Thomas Smith, 1577, which
runs :—
" What Ye arth, or Sea, or Skies conteyne, what Creatures in them be
My Mynde did seeke to knowe, my Soule the Heavens continually."
appealed favourably to the naturalists present.
Mr. Prance was cordially thanked for his kind hospitality and his
very pleasant and interesting leadership. Leaving the church, the brakes
conveyed the party to the Brick-Pit at Theydon Mount, where, by the
stone coffin and coffin slab at Stapleford Tawney
(Block kindly lent by the Essex Archaeological Society).
kind attention of the Manager, Mr. Bonner, the section shows passage-beds
from London Clay to Bagshot Sands, comprising sandy loam, passing down
into more clayey beds with Septaria, and containing intercalated seams
of brickearth. Sharks' teeth have been met with here, but no other fossils.
Small oval surface pockets containing burnt wood, clay, and
fragments of coarse dark prehistoric pottery, but no bones, have been
noticed from time to time in this pit, and may be small Kilns, of
unknown age.
The members subsequently walked through the adjacent Beachet