THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 95
in the garden by the lily-pool, Mr. Walker continued his personally con-
ducted tour of his charming residence, showing the various external
aspects of the house and its wings.
Reassembled on the terrace, our President thanked our host for accord-
ing the party the privilege of inspecting his house in such detail, and Mr.
Walker made a suitable reply.
Taking leaves, the visitors walked through the Park to Birdbrook,
where the parish church of St. Augustine was visited. Here, Mr. Salmon
gave a short resume of its principal architectural features, the fine Early
English triple lancets of the east window being especially noteworthy.
The mural slab to Martha Blewitt, the much-married spouse of nine
husbands, was of course an object of comment.
Regaining the conveyances, a long and circuitous drive by way of
Finchingfield and Great Bardfield brought the party to a point where a
cross-country ramble along the swampy valley of the Pant promised
good opportunity of noting the bird- and plant-life of the district. But
unfortunately this ramble had perforce to be curtailed, as threatening
storm-clouds counselled a speedy retreat to shelter. Little Sampford
church, dedicated to St. Mary, was therefore soon reached: here, too, Mr.
Salmon read a few notes on the fabric and monuments. From here, the
drive was continued to Wimbish, where the old isolated hall called Broad-
oaks, now a showplace for visitors, was visited and where tea was taken.
After tea, at a short formal meeting of the Club with the President in
the chair, Miss G. Thorn, of 46, Charleville Road, West Kensington, W.14,
and Mr. Wilfred Booth, of Hutton Residential School, Hutton, were
elected members. On the President's motion, a vote of thanks was enthu-
siastically accorded to our conductor. Mr. Salmon, by the meeting.
Mr. Granville Squiers, F.R.G.S., author of the brochure "Broadoaks:
"the Story of an Essex Manor House," then gave an entrancing detailed
account of the fruitless search in this old house, in 1594, for the priest
Father John Gerard, S. J., who remained hidden for four days in a "priest's
"hole" contrived in the thickness of the wall of the "great chamber"
and entered from a false hearth in the room above.
Followed a curious inspection of the old house, now but a, fraction of its
original foundation. Father Gerard's hiding-place was examined and Mr.
Squiers and another member of the party lowered themselves into it,
so as to demonstrate to the party its adaptability for concealment.
Another interesting feature of Broadoaks is the "Turpin trap," a heavy
hinged trapdoor which, when lowered at bedtime, and barricaded by a.
stout oak beam held in position by iron stirrups, secured the sleeping
inmates from intrusion, even were the lower floor burst into by evildoers.
At about 6.45 o'clock, the homeward journey, by way of Thaxted,
Dunmow, Bishops Stortford and Epping, was entered upon, after a. de-
lightful day in the unspoilt Essex countryside, in a district happily too re-
mote for "ribbon-development" and kindred evidences of modern "pro-
gress."
By reason of the curtailment of the afternoon ramble, opportunity
tor collecting plants was restricted, but nevertheless 75 species in flower
were noted, including Green-winged Orchis, Listera ovata, Saxifraga tri-
dactylites. Viburnum lantana, Cowslip. Lamium Galeobdolon, and the two
ferns Asplenium adiantum-nigrum and Scolopendrium vulgare.