170
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
the party to Ongar, paying a visit on the way to the little church at Green-
stead, where Mr. Salmon gave an outline account of the fabric and its
early association with King Edmund the Martyr.
From Ongar, members made their several ways home by train or bus.
VISIT TO NEW HALL AND NATURE-RAMBLE IN THE
LITTLE BADDOW DISTRICT (701ST MEETING).
SATURDAY, 21ST MAY, 1938.
Our member, Mr. J. M. Bull, B.A., F.R.G.S., acted as guide and host
to a party of some 42 members who visited the delightful district of Little
Baddow on the above date.
Travelling down from town by motor-coach and car, the party first
visited New Hall, at Boreham, now a Convent of the Holy Sepulchre with
fifty nuns and some 62 pupils, where two of the sisters, Sister Ann Frances
and Sister Margaret Helen, received the visitors on behalf of the Reverend
Mother, who had kindly granted permission for our mixed company to
inspect the building. The edifice as it now stands represents only the north
side of the original quadrangle of buildings erected circa 1518 by Henry
VIII and very largely rebuilt by Thomas Radclif, Earl of Sussex, about the
year 1573; to which many alterations were made in or about 1738 and in
modern times. The Chapel, with a west gallery for the nuns to partici-
pate in the Office unseen of the casual congregation which may attend
Mass, the Library, the several childrens' dormitories for boarders, the
domestic offices and even the cellars were in turn inspected, and a peram-
bulation was made of the Beech Walk and grounds, which are very exten-
sive and contain many fine trees: a magnificent specimen of Zelkova
crenata attracted special attention. The estate of the convent covers 150
acres of land and includes farmland: the nuns came into possession in
1798 or 1799.
An hour was spent in inspecting this historical building—a veritable
"abode of ancient peace,"—after which, the thanks of the party having
been voiced by the Hon. Secretary, leaves were taken and the vehicles
regained.
Proceeding by way of Hatfield Peverel, Hoe Mill on the river Chelmer
was next reached; from here, a walk along the towpath of this pleasant
canalised stream was entered upon (Lilting church being regretfully passed
on the further bank) followed, after a mile and a half, by fieldpath and
lane, past "Bassetts," where the well-known Judas Tree was in full bloom,
to Woodham Walter Common, a walk of, in all, some 5 miles, when oppor-
tunity was taken by the naturalists to note the wild flowers and birds met
with.
Miss Prince, who recorded the plants, reported no species in flower,
the more noteworthy of these being Chelidonium majus, Corydalis clavi-
culata, Cardamine amara, Spergularia rubra, Vicia hirsuta, V. tetrasperma,
Saxifraga granulata, Viburnum Opulus, and Lamium Galeobdolon.
Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis) was noticed in great profusion,
covering the ground in one part of Woodham Walter Common, but the
plants appeared to be non-flowering.