280 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
o'clock, where some country members joined, as also did our host, Mr. R. E.
Thomas.
Lunch—a first desideratum in view of the hour—was taken at the Blue
Boar Hotel, after which an inspection was made of this picturesque inn, which
includes some late 14th century and later timber work.
At All Saints' Church the visitors were met by the vicar, the Rev. I. L.-
Seymour, M.A., Rural Dean, who gave an interesting account of the fabric
and its monuments, and who mentioned that the great grandfather of
George Washington was buried in the churchyard in 1652, as recorded in the
church register. The unique triangular Tower of Transitional Norman date,
the richly canopied wall arcade and sedilia in the south aisle of the nave, and
the beautiful whorl-tracery of the Decorated east windows of the same aisle „
were in turn admired. Mr. Seymour also kindly threw open the delightful
half-timbered Vicarage, built at the close of the 13th century, and carefully
restored in 1902, to the visitors' inspection.
The party then proceeded to tho Plume Library, bequeathed to his native
town and endowed by Dr. Thomas Plume, DD. (1630-1704), which is housed
in a brick building, erected by the donor on the site of the destroyed St.
Peter's Church, and is approached through the still standing original Tower.
Some 6,000 volumes are now comprised in this Library, which is in the charge
of Mr. Seymour, as Librarian. Among the treasures shown to the visitors were
first editions of Milton's "Paradise Lost" (1667) and "Paradise Regained"
(1671), now worth £300 each, and a black-letter edition of Chaucer (1561).
An oil-portrait of Archbishop Laud, an early copy of the original in St, John's
College, Cambridge, hangs on the walls.
Passing through the town and along a field path which gave charming
views over the Blackwater valley, Beeleigh Abbey was reached soon after 3
o'clock ; here the party was received by Mrs. Thomas in the vaulted Cale-
factory or Warming House of the former abbey, and here our host gave an
interesting account to the visitors of the history of the building in which they
were.
Beeleigh Abbey was founded in 1180 by one Robert Mantell, lord of the
manor of Little Maldon, as a house of the Order of Premonstratensians, or
White Canons, on their removal from Great Parndon, at the other end of the
County, where they had an earlier settlement, which is still kept in memory
by the name of certain lands, "Canons," there. Mr. Thomas remarked that
the Warming House or Common Room, in which the party was assembled,
was the earliest monastic room in England which is still used as a dwelling :
it was built in A.D. 1225, and formed an undercroft to the Dorter. The
latter apartment, with its fine open waggon roof, the picturesque 16th century
half-timbered addition to the buildings, and the beautiful vaulted Chapter
House (circa 1225) were in turn inspected.
Tea, which was served in the Chapter House, was a distinctly monastic-
function, the guests being seated on benches and chests flanking long tables,
whilst our hostess meanwhile improvised for our pleasure on an old sweet-
toned organ, believed to have been played upon by the great Handel himself.
After tea, a formal Meeting of the Club was held, with the President in the
Chair, when, after adequate discussion, the following Resolutions were
passed unanimously:—
" That in the opinion of this Club the Reservoirs in the Lea Valley