186
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
view over the surrounding country; from this Pisgah-height Mr. Wool-
dridge pointed out the geological features of the district, illustrating his
remarks by a geological map spread out upon the grass. Following him,
the Honorary Secretary gave a brief account of the history of the Castle
and its builder, and referred to the latter-day history of the Mount, which
has now happily been handed over to the National Trust as a public
possession.
Passing through the town, and noting particularly the octagonal
Dutch cottage, with the date 1621 over the door, in the London Road,
Mr. 'Wooldridge pointed out a small fault of some 20 to 30 feet throw,
which brings the Claygate Beds up against the Bagshot Sand, on the
S.E. outskirts of the town; the fault is visible as a slight drop in the
surface-contour of the ground.
Returning through the High Street, the parish church of the Holy
Trinity was visited by the party, the 16th century south porch, of
mellowed brickwork with ornamental corbel-table, and groined brick roof,
attracting special attention.
In the south aisle the ancient church chest, a veritable "dug-out,"
gouged from a solid block of oak (one of 19 dug-outs possessed by
Essex churches), and with money slot in the lid, was inspected with
interest; Messrs. Lewer and Wall, in their Church Chests of Essex, 1913,
describe this as "a short and massive log of oak—the shortest dug-out
in the county"; it measures only 2 ft. 10 in. in length, and is thought to
be as early as the reign of Henry II., circa 1166.
On the north side of Hamborough Hill, close under the summit, a
small pit was visited which showed Bagshot Sands, overlain by some 6 feet
of gravel and sand containing many fragments of Lower Greensand
chert. Mr. Wooldridge is of opinion that this gravel, which has evidently
been formed of material brought through the Medway gap from the
Weald of Kent, may be of Pliocene date.
An extensive prospect was enjoyed from this view-point over the
Crouch valley and estuary.
An adjoining pit, cut at a slightly lower level in the slope of the hill,
was next visited, and showed nearly 30 feet of Bagshot Sand, with a few
clayey seams at intervals of about six feet; fragile casts of bivalve shells
have been met with in this pit, but were unidentifiable.
Mr. Berdinner, describing the section, said that it was the most easterly
exposure of Bagshot Sand in England, except for one small patch in the
Isle of Sheppey. He demonstrated the fineness of the sand particles
here as compared with the Bagshot Sand of other counties to the west,
and inferred from this circumstance, and from the very slight amount of
false bedding visible, that in this district the beds are truly marine.
Proceeding next to the large Down Hall pit worked by the Rayleigh
Brick and Tile Company, where some 14 feet of Bagshot Sand is underlain
by 12 feet of Claygate Beds, and these by nearly 20 feet (exposed) of
fossiliferous London Clay, the party found our third conductor, Mr. Wrigley,
hard at work collecting fossils from the waste-heaps and from the face
of the pit ; in this occupation he was joined by various members of the
party, several corals and molluscs being added to his collection.
Tea was taken at the Golden Lion Hotel in the High Street at