THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 55
(one in the nave, one in the chancel) being especially noteworthy. The
inner lintol of the south doorway, originally a coped stone coffin-lid, with
Norman decoration, is a unique feature.
It was difficult to tear one's self away from so interesting a building,
but at 7 o'clock the stragglers of the party were all shepherded into the
waiting vehicles and the homeward journey reluctantly begun.
Miss Prince and Miss Jones, who acted as botanical recorders, report
a total of 89 wild flowers noted during the day; the most interesting of
these were Ranunculus arvensis, Caltha palustris, Poterium Sanguisorba,
Scandix Pecten-veneris, Campanula glomerata, Primula elatior, Litho-
spermum arvense, Plantago media and Iris Pseudacorus.
MEETING AT MARKS HALL AND EARLS COLNE
(777TH MEETING).
SATURDAY, I2TH JUNE, 1937.
A long drive of over two hours from town brought together an unusually
small party of thirty members and friends at Stanstead Hall, a moated
mansion near Halstead, a house of mellowed red brickwork with Jacobaean
gables and mullioned windows, going back in its oldest portion to the early
16th century and containing a great deal of oak moulded beams and wall-
panelling of Jacobaean character. Here the party was received by Mrs.
R. C. Butler and conducted over the building : the strange occurrence
of two fireplaces side by side in the Billiard Room (originally the kitchen)
was pointed out and commented on. An inspection of the gardens and
the ruins of the Chapel was made and thanks expressed to Mrs. Butler for
her kind reception.
Proceeding to Pattiswick, lunch was taken in the rectory garden by
invitation of the rector and his wife, who very kindly provided the visitors
with tea. After due acknowledgment had been made to these generous
hosts the party entered upon a cross-country nature-ramble of some two
miles, botanizing and ornithologizing by the way, until, at a pre-arranged
point, the vehicles were regained and Marks Hall, near Coggeshall, was
reached, somewhat belatedly, at 3 o'clock.
Mrs. Price welcomed the party and kindly showed us over her historic
mansion, adding some interesting details of its former owners. In one of
the ground floor rooms a ceiling beam bears the date 1566 and the initials
J C (for John Cole, then owner): this is the oldest part of the house, which
later was the home of the Honeywoods, a staunch Puritan family, and was
by them almost wholly rebuilt in or about 1609. The picturesque little
octagonal dovecot dates from the mid-16th century.
The extensive gardens, the upper and lower lakes (formed by damming
a quarter-mile stretch of the Robins Brook) covered by masses of white
water-lilies, and the deer-park with its large herd of fallow deer, were in
turn appreciatively viewed and admired during a long perambulation of
this charming spot.
After thanks had been tendered to our hostess for her kindly per-
mission to visit this magnificent domain, the drive was continued to Earls
Colne, where tea was taken and, at a short subsequent meeting with Mr. C.
Hall Crouch as chairman, Miss M. Budd, of 39, Weston Park, Crouch
End, N.S, and Mr. Peter W. Glassborow, of 65, Church Hill, Loughton,
were elected to membership of the Club.