THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 119
ornate Renaissance gateway-entrance of which was viewed with ap-
preciative interest by the visitors. The inscription on the facade runs:—
CAROLUS II REX.
A. REG. XXXIV.
which is equivalent to the date 1683: actually the Fort was being built
between the years 1682 to 1687.
Crossing the two-mile breadth of marshland between the Fort and
the line of low hills, running east and west, which rises steeply from the
alluvial flat and marks the northern limit of the modern Thames valley,
botanizing was indulged in, and several interesting plants observed: among
these may be noted Lepidium draba, Trifolium subterraneum, Vicia hirsuta,
Medicago maculata, and Alopecurus fulvus.
Arrived at West Tilbury, lunch was disposed of, and the "Rector's
Well," in an arable field on the slope of the hill, was inspected. This well,
as was fully explained to the party by Mr. Miller Christy, is one of two
one-time famous mineral springs in the parish of West Tilbury,1 sunk
in the Thanet Sands to an unknown depth, the water of which, whether
of medicinal value or not, is still used by neighbouring residents. The
other well, believed to be the original one of the two, is beneath the floor
of the kitchen of West Tilbury Hall, and its water is pumped for domestic
use by a wooden, lead-spouted pump in the kitchen; the visitors were
glad to quench their thirst at this classic source and found the water
perfectly tasteless and most refreshing. It was mentioned that one
of the original bottles in which, in the 18th century, this water was sent
out to patrons, is still preserved at the Rectory, but time did not permit
of its being seen.
West Tilbury Church with its square tower crowns the ridge of hills,
and was next visited, but presents little of antiquarian interest, it having
been largely rebuilt in modern times, but a broken stone coffin-slab with
a raised cross-pommelee is preserved in the interior, and a small fragment
of faded mural painting exists in a recess in the south wall of the chancel.
The hill upon which the church stands is composed of Thanet Sand,
capped with Pleistocene gravel, and commands most extensive views in
all directions over the river marshes and across the Thames to the corres-
ponding heights of the Kentish bank. In and about the churchyard,
several interesting plants were noted, including Saxifraga granulata, Sal-
via verbenaca, Hyoscyamus niger, and, again, Trifolium subterraneum,
while fine masses of the fungus, Polyporus squamosus, were growing on
dead and fallen tree-trunks on the slope of the hill.
Seated on the hill-crest, bathed in the warm sunlight of an ideal spring
day (although, unfortunately, a heat haze veiled the distant views), with
skylarks singing overhead, the party listened happily enough to an in-
teresting discourse by our Conductor, Mr. Miller Christy, who gave an
exhaustive account of the history of the "Camp Royal," which was es-
tablished in 1588 on this commanding eminence, and for some two miles
northwards, to oppose a landing from the Spanish Armada, or an attempt
to raid London at the same time, a boom of chains and other impediments
being constructed across the river two miles to the south, from Tilbury
1 For a full account of the West Tilbury springs, see Christy and Thresh's "Mineral Waters
of Essex," 1910. pp. 34-43. (Special Memoir of the Club.)