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THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
RAMBLE IN THE WEST TILBURY DISTRICT
(733RD MEETING).
SATURDAY, 8TH SEPTEMBER, 1934.
A small party of members met at Low Street station at 12.53 o'clock,
after a tedious train journey, with the object of entering upon a nature
ramble in this delightfully rural corner of South Essex, so near in distance
to, and yet, happily, so remote in character from, the sordidness of Tilbury
town. Mr. and Mrs. L. S. Harley acted as conductors.
Turning westwards from the station, past the remains of the round-
house of West Tilbury mill, a fieldpath was taken which gave the botanists
of the party abundant opportunity to note the local flora. The stubble
of a wheatfield yielded some charming little cornfield weeds, such as
Papaver Rhanis, Fumaria Vaillantii, Viola arvensis, Sherardia arvensis,
Scabiosa arvensis, Cichorium Intybus, Anagallis arvensis, Veronica agrestis,
Scleranthus annuus, Polygonum Convolvulus and Euphorbia Helioscopia.
Lunch was taken in a large gravel pit at Chadwell St. Mary, which
commanded extensive views over the wide Thames valley 80 feet below :
on the floor of the pit some interesting plants were growing, among which
Trifolium arvense, Lactuca Scariola ? and Erigeron canadensis were
especially noteworthy. The Hon. Secretary, by request, gave an informal
description of the strata exposed in the excavation, which showed Thanet
Sand overlain by gravel belonging to the Boyn Hill, or 100 foot, Terrace
of the Thames Valley Gravels. Many unrolled palaeolithic implements,
of late St. Acheul character, have been met with in this gravel, some
examples of which the party were shown by the rector of Chadwell church,
which was afterwards visited. The Reverend Mr. Smith, the rector, is
an enthusiastic collector of local prehistoric and early historic relics.
Chadwell Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an interesting building,
dating from Norman times, and presents many features of interest,
including three scratch-dials and an unusual ogee-headed recess on the
exterior of the west wall of the late 13th century Tower, to the south of
the entrance doorway, the purpose of which is problematical ; it had
originally iron guard-bars, and may have been a shrine.
Leaving here, after our President had expressed the thanks of the
party to the rector for his kind reception, the visitors descended the steep
hill down to the marsh-level and, skirting the base of the line of hills to Gun
Hill, reascended to the higher ground at West Tilbury, where tea was
taken in the garden of the King's Head inn.
After tea, the parish church of St. James, West Tilbury, was
cursorily inspected, but did not detain the party for long, as it has suffered
considerable modern restoration : the earthworks, of unknown date, which
adjoin the churchyard, and the fine 16th century barn belonging to
West Tilbury Hall, were also inspected. Calamintha nepeta was seen
growing freely in and about the churchyard.
Returning to Low Street station, a few members of the party returned
to town by the 6 o'clock train, but the others proceeded by marsh track
across the marshes to the river bank, a mile and a half distant, with the
intention of visiting the remains of some Romano-British hut circles
which are exposed at dead low water on the Thames foreshore : a large
quantity of pottery sherds has been picked up from the river mud at the