304 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
host and hostess, who had so indefatigably striven to make the Club's
latest visit to Colchester such a memorable one. He also thanked
Dr. Laver and the Curator and staff of the Museum, each of whom had
contributed to the success of a most enjoyable day. His Worship the
Mayor having suitably replied, leaves were taken, and at 6.45 o'clock
the homeward journey was begun.
(The Hon. Secretary having been, to his great disappointment,
prevented by illness from attending this visit, wishes to thank Miss E. A.
Greaves, from whose careful notes the foregoing report has been compiled.)
VISIT TO WARLEY PLACE (732ND MEETING).
SATURDAY, 7TH JULY, 1934.
Our member, Miss E. Willmott, F.L.S., V.M.H., having kindly
extended an invitation to the Club to revisit, after an interval of eleven
years, her garden at Great Warley, some 38 members gladly availed them-
selves of this opportunity of seeing this renowned home of horticulture,
the most famous in our County, in glorious summer weather under a
blazing sun whose beams were mercifully tempered by a slight easterly
breeze.
A small band of botanical enthusiasts undertook during the morning,
under the leadership of the Misses Prince and Steward, a three mile
collecting ramble in the South Weald and Warley neighbourhoods, and
contrived, in spite of the heat and drought, to amass a total of 111
flowering plants, of which the more interesting were Agrostemma githago,
Hypericum hirsutum, Ononis spinosa, Pulicaria dysenterica and Picris
echioides.
At 3 o'clock the entire party assembled at the entrance gate to Warley
Place nearest the village, where they were met by Miss Willmott's head
gardener, and conducted by him to the rock-garden, where Miss Willmott
cordially welcomed her guests in person, and gave a resume of the history
of the estate.
She said that there had been some sort of establishment on the site
since before the Norman Conquest, when and until its Dissolution by
Henry VIII., the Abbey of Barking had used this high, healthy site as a
sanatorium for those suffering from ague acquired in the low lying marshes
in which the Abbey was set. The present house presents features which,
our hostess remarked, go back to circa 1400, although of course it is
mainly of very much later date.
John Evelyn, the diarist, was owner of the manor in the mid-17th
century, and is said to have resided at Warley Place for a short time :
a letter written by him from there is still in existence. An entry in
the Diary, under date 12th May, 1649, records :
"I purchased the Manor of Warley Magna, in Essex."
Bat Evelyn's connection with Warley was of short duration. His Diary
shows that much of his time during the next few years following his
purchase was spent abroad, and by 1652 he was already arranging a
permanent home at Sayes Court, Deptford. On September 17th, 1655,
the Diary records : "Received 2600 l. of Mr. Hurt for the Manor of Warley
"Magna, in Essex, purchased by me some time since." Evelyn adds
his reason for selling the manor : "The taxes were so intolerable that they