38
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
VISIT TO SHENFIELD AND HUTTON (533rd MEETING).
Saturday, 9th July, 1921.
This Meeting was arranged in response to a kind invitation from our
member, Mr. James Keeves, to visit him at "Haslemere," Hutton Mount.
Our host and Mr. H. W. Weston acted as conductors throughout the day.
A five-mile cross-country walk, with nearly five hours in which to do
it, would not seem to demand very strenuous exertion, but under the con-
ditions of this summer of drought, with the shaded thermometer high in
the 80's, and with a blazing sun overhead, a real effort was required to keep
going, and the party was glad to seek casual opportunities for rest on the
roadside greensward. Longfellow's lines:—
"Where Autumn, like a. faint old man, sits down
"By the wayside a-weary,"
were quoted, not too inappropriately, on one of these occasions.
But, notwithstanding the intense heat, the day's programme was fully
accomplished, and all present voted the excursion a most enjoyable one.
The party of some 25 members assembled at Shenfield station at 11.37
o'clock, and at once proceeded to Shenfield Church. Here, the Rector,
the Rev. J. W. Lewis, welcomed the visitors and explained the various
points of interest in the fabric and exhibited the registers.
Samuel Harsnett was rector here from 1604 on.
The north porch and door of mellow-red Tudor brickwork, which was
only unmasked some three years ago upon the removal of an old mantling
plant of ivy, makes a fine feature, covered as it is with patches of the yellow
thallus of the lichen Leeanora sulphurea ; and the almost unique oak or
chestnut arcading between the nave and north aisle attracted especial
interest.
An inspection of the exterior of the late 15th century Shenfield Hall,
and the adjacent Rectory, followed, and Mr. Lewis very kindly presented
each member of the party with a charming reproduction of an old print
of the Church.
On leaving, the President voiced the thanks of the party to Mr. Lewis
for his kindly services.
The visitors next made their way to Thrift Wood, where an al fresco
lunch was enjoyed in the grateful shade of large oak-trees. Proceeding
through the wood some extensive patches of Erythraea centaurium, inter-
mixed with several species of St. John's Wort, presented a charming
and unusual spectacle in a recent clearing. Carex pseudocyperus was
noted in a pond in the wood, and fine specimens of Skullcap (Scutellaria
galericulata) were growing on its banks, while just outside the wood Carex
sylvatica and, on a roadside, Hypericum hirsutum were recorded.
Several of our rarer moths are said to be still discoverable in this wood,
but our entomologists present on this occasion, although energetically
hunting for "flies," had to report very poor results, doubtless by reason
of the abnormal drought. Beetles were, however, more in evidence.
A very picturesque "bit" for the camera was afforded by an exhibi-
tion of hurdle-making, which old-time industry was being carried on in
wood from the felled Sweet Chestnut trees.
From Thrift Wood, the route passed over upland fields, and through