THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 297
century panelling in wide panels, and other rooms have low dadoes.
The grounds and orchard were much admired : it is sad to envisage
their probable early destruction.
From here, the visitors walked to the Old Rectory, adjoining Woodford
Parish Church, which had kindly been thrown open for inspection by the
owner and occupier, the Rev. J. Montague Harris, in his own absence
from home. As its name implies, this building was formerly the rectory
of the parish : the present owner, however, has no official connection
with the church. The two delicately-carved wood mantelpieces in the
drawing and dining rooms, which are reputed to be genuine "8 Adams,"
were greatly admired, as were the extensive gardens.
Proceeding next to Salway Hill, a halt was called at the eighth mile-
post, where Mr. Crouch exhibited a photograph of "8 Ivy House," the
residence where the famous botanist, Edward Forster, junior, lived in
his latter years and where he died in 1849 ; the house was demolished
in 1906. The Cork Oak which, now recently dead, stands only a few
yards distant from the milepost must have once adorned the grounds of
Ivy House, which stood just here.
Salway Lodge, across the road, was next visited, by permission of
the occupier, Mrs. Whittle. This is a plain stuccoed building, of which
the earliest mention Mr. Crouch can find is in 1832, when it was owned
and tenanted by Peter Mallard, a magistrate for Essex and Middlesex :
it is said that he administered justice from one of his front windows, the
proximity of the former police station, in the hollow lying next to Salway
Lodge, rendering this a certainly convenient, if informal, procedure.
Peter Mallard lived in this house for many years, and died in it in 1853,
at the age of 85. Later occupiers were Robert Russell (1874), Mrs. Benton
(1886), William R. Cooper (1890), and in 1900 and onwards, for more than
ten years, Joseph Malaby Dent, the well-known publisher of the
"Everyman" series of books. During the Great War the house was
occupied by the Royal Air Force, and then, after standing empty for a
time, it was turned into flats by the present owner, Mr. John Lusty.
H
A handsome cast lead cistern bearing the date 1722 and initials G. I.,
V
which formerly belonged here, was purchased in 1918 for £55 by a deceased
member of our Club. Mr. Howard Wall, of Chigwell, who removed it to
his residence, Brook House, where it presumably still is.
The Salway family, from which Salway Hill and Salway Lodge derive
their name, was an important Woodford one, with offshoots at Stratford
and Leyton. Theophilus Salway, of Woodford, was a director of the
Bank of England in 1750, in which year he was so unfortunate as to be
thrown by his horse whilst mounting "at his country seat at Woodford."
After the President had expressed the thanks of the company to Mr
Crouch for his information, and that due acknowledgment had been
expressed to Mrs. Whittle for allowing the premises to be inspected
the party proceeded across Woodford Green to the imposing buildings of
the Woodford County High School for Girls, formerly the manor house
of Higham Benstead (it is just within the boundary of Walthamstow
parish), of which our member, Miss Janet Gordon, is headmistress and by
whose favour the buildings were thrown open for inspection by the party.