310
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
" Basseldon or Layndon ; The Salary to be paid half yearly by the
" trustees, vizt, Five Pounds upon the feast of the Annunciation and
" five pounds upon the feast of Saint Michael ; This charity is to be
" commemorated yearly upon the feast of Saint John, upon which
" day the pious Founder, of happy memory, hath appointed an
" annuall sermon and the fee of a mark to the preacher.
" Memoria Justi beata est in secula seculorum Sol : 10 : 7, Amen."
This sermon is still preached, and the fee, or its equivalent, paid, but
the rest of the income from the property, which produced £65 per annum.
has been diverted to other uses.
On the other hand, Mr. Barns adds, an undated Edwardian certificate
(Edward VI. reigned from 2Sth January, 1547, to 6th July, 1553) refers
to a "free chapel in Laingdon," which was endowed with rents from
various properties, among them being Farm Croft and Turkes in Bullvan
and Orsett and from a cottage and 3 acres of land called "Le Preste's
House," in the tenure of Sir William Parkyn, late incumbent. This
may, however, refer to the chantry chapel on the south side of the church ;
especially as an entry in the parish registers records, "That side of the
"Church Yard House which is on the South side towards the King's
"highway was made new in the year 1732 at the charge of the Parish."
An ornamental carved oak panel which is nailed to one of the joists
supporting the upper storey (now merely a lumber room) bears the date
1630. A rubbing was taken of this, and a photograph of the rubbing,
by Mr. Harley, is now in the Club's Pictorial Survey collection.
After thanking Mr. Lammine for his kindly assistance, the party
left the church and entered upon a ramble, by road and bridle path and
across country, lunch being disposed of en route. But few wild flowers
were recorded, the season being so late and the district probably never
a very prolific, one in this respect. Miss Prince recorded thirty species
of flowering plants, but all were very common forms. Anchusa
sempervirens, probably escaped from a nearby garden, was one of the
rarer forms seen.
The air was filled with bird-songs. In this open country, larks were
heard singing overhead repeatedly, also nightingales, cuckoos and green
woodpecker were heard at intervals.
At Westley (or West Lee) Hall, a farm formerly belonging to the Dean
and Chapter of Saint Paul's Cathedral, the visitors were welcomed by
the owner, Mr. Watkin, who showed his huge timber barn, constructed
of timbers which had evidently, from the occurrence of mortice-holes
in many of them, been used in some earlier building.
Mr. Watkin demonstrated to the visitors the usefulness of his potato-
riddling machine, which automatically grades the tubers into three sizes
for market.
From the field above the farmstead a magnificent and extensive view
was obtained, the day being fortunately clear, comprising seawards the
lower reach of the Thames with the Kentish Downs beyond, and, on the
Essex side, Canvey Island, the cliff-like high ground of Hadleigh and
Leigh, and, far in the distance, Southend pier.
A small sand pit on the farm showed a section of Bagshot Sand, over-
grown with gorse and broom, and the abode of foxes and badgers, whose