THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
227
Buxton and his son, Gerald Buxton, to whom the public owes the gift of
the Forest. A pair of Swallows, which had built their nest on the rafters
of the Shelter, were not a little perturbed by the party's intrusion into
their domain.
After tea, Miss Lister was voted to the Chair and nominations in
favour of three candidates for membership of the Club were read. The
Chairman thanked Mr. and Mrs. Hatley for their very successful efforts
in arranging so enjoyable a meeting, and gave a sketch outline of the
history of Hatfield Forest. The Hon. Secretary voiced the thanks of the
meeting to Miss Lister for her share in the day's enjoyment.
At 6.30 o'clock the vehicles were regained, after a stroll through the
Forest, and the homeward journey began.
FIELD MEETING AT BARLING AND THE WAKERINGS
(690TH MEETING).
SATURDAY, 19TH SEPTEMBER, 1931.
A party of about forty members, travelling by different routes, for-
gathered at the Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Great Wakering, at 12.20
o'clock, to find a warm sunny day succeeding the heavy mist of the earlier
morning, a gracious day which the abnormally cold wet "summer"
made all the more welcome and attractive.
The vicar, the Rev. W. C. Fenn, welcomed the party to his church
and read some notes on its architectural features. He remarked that the
church had once belonged to Beeleigh Abbey ; a fact which explained the
quaint little two-storey building (parvise with chamber over) which was
built westwards on to the massive 12th century western Tower in the
latter part of the fifteenth century to accommodate the priest from that
Abbey, who took the services. The chancel and nave date from about
a.d. noo and there still remain many traces of the original Norman
work, including a bold plain Norman arch between tower and nave.
On each jamb of the S. doorway was noticed a scratch-dial, later
rendered useless by the building of the S. porch in the early 16th century,
and various masons' marks were detected on this doorway ; rubbings of
these and of the scratch-dials were taken by some of the visitors.
There is an indent of a fine canopied brass with effigy of a priest,
circa 1400, on the floor of the chancel. The stone angel-corbels supporting
the roof-trusses of the nave are interesting examples. The large iron-
bound oak chest in the vestry, probably of 10th century date, was
appreciatively examined.
At a few minutes before 1 o'clock, this interesting church was quitted
and a retired lane leading to the marshes was entered upon and proved
to be teeming with wild flowers. Our botanists were soon busily at work
collecting, their yield including specimens of fennel, melilots (M. officinalis
and M. alba), Lotus tenuis, Pulicaria dysenterica, Artemisia vulgaris,
traveller's joy (Clematis vitalba), Centaurea nigra, Helminthia echioides,
Convolvulus sepium, and other interesting forms. As a result of this
and subsequent gatherings, just over one hundred species of flowering
plants were noted during the day by Miss Greaves and Miss Prince, who
acted as recorders.