THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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then been recently erected and belonged to Sir Bernard Whitestones
(or Whetstone) Kt., then Lord of Woodford Manor. The old millhouse
was later a farmhouse, then a beerhouse, and is now a motor-garage.
Arrived at "Thornhill" the party was warmly welcomed by Mrs.
Crouch and tea was speedily served.
After tea the visitors were entertained by exhibits of our host's
armorial scrolls and his extensive collection of armorial book-plates
(amounting to something like 25,000 specimens!). which excited so
considerable interest that some of the party were still absorbed in their
contemplation at eight o'clock.
By permission of our host and hostess, a formal meeting of the Club
was held in the Dining Room, when certificates of nomination of two
candidates for membership were read. Our President voiced the thanks
of the party to Mr. Crouch for his leadership during the excursion and to
Mrs. Crouch for her generous hospitality. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crouch
briefly replied, and the visitors took their leaves after a most enjoyable
excursion.
VISIT TO HORHAM HALL AND THE THAXTED
DISTRICT (719TH MEETING).
SATURDAY, JULY IST, 1933.
"A day worthy of being marked by a white stone!" Such was the
unanimous verdict of the 36 members who took part in this excursion,
which was organised and led by Mr. John Salmon, and planned in response
to a kind invitation from Mrs. Humphry for the Club to visit her at
Horham Hall.
Travelling down by motor-coach or private cars by way of Epping,
Ongar and Dunmow, the party foregathered at Tilty Church at 11.30
o'clock, and were welcomed by the vicar. A careful inspection was made
of this beautiful building, once the Capella extra portas of the Cistercian
Abbey of Tilty, whose ruins, consisting of fragments of the cloister-wall,
with traces of the vaulting, in an adjoining meadow were also inspected.
Mr. Salmon read a short account of the church, calling attention to the
triple sedilia and piscina and the magnificent east window of the Decorated
chancel, which dates from circa 1340, the nave being of 13th century date.
In addition to three good brasses, dated respectively 1520, 1562 and 1590.
a fine indent is in a purbeck slab in the floor of the nave of a long-stemmed
foliated cross brass, with marginal inscription in separate Lombardic
letters in Norman French, to a De Mortemer, which dates back to circa
A.D. 1340, and probably was relaid in the church from the Abbey at the
Dissolution.
After our President had thanked the vicar for his reception of the
party, the vehicles were requisitioned to convey the party to Foley
Mill, the delightful half-timbered residence of Captain and Mrs. L. Cranmer-
Byng, in whose idyllic garden lunch was taken by kind invitation, not-
withstanding the compulsory absence of our host and hostess, a privilege
which was greatly appreciated by the visitors. The spinney opposite
the house was also entered and a "gamekeeper's larder" viewed-with
mixed feelings by the naturalists, as such harmless creatures as hedgehogs
and moles found place among the other "vermin."