48 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
friends. The will is dated 15th July, 1775, and was proved by
Jacob Wrench, of Thames Street, London, seedsman, and
Edward Hargrave, of Cannhall, Wanstead, farmer, on 20th
January, 1776.
As we have seen, William Perkins continued the business.
It will be noticed that the Will refers to him as "servant" to
Spencer Turner, while the advertisement of Perkins calls Spencer
Turner his "kinsman," from which I imagine that, like so many
previous apprentices, he (Perkins) had married his employer's
daughter. The business grew and the premises were extended.
In December, 1826, the rate-book shows John Thomas Perkins,
late William Perkins, and the 1834 rate-book gives Edward
Perkins late J. T. Perkins: in 1845 Edward Perkins was still
the occupier, the Holloway Down premises in Leyton parish
then comprising over 7 acres, with more than 7 acres at Leyton-
stone, in addition to the Wanstead area. A portion of the
nursery included most of the land belonging to the Edmund
Wise Charity of Walthamstow, hence the reference to Waltham-
stow in the Will.
The business of nurseryman must have been a lucrative one
in the neighbourhood a century or more ago. Fine houses, with
extensive grounds, were numerous, and in this connection it is
of interest to note that in 1780 the Tax on Male Servants gives
Leyton as the parish in the County with the second greatest
number of inhabitants paying the tax, namely, 55, Walthamstow
heading the list with 89.
Turner's Nursery is shown for the last time on Smith's "New
"Map of London," 1864, for in the following year it was cut up
and soon built over, the houses on the site being dated between
1866 and 1873.
THE "RED-HILLS" OF CANVEY ISLAND-
SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLE.
By ERNEST LINDER, B.Sc.
(With Four Text Figures.)
CANVEY Island is situated on the Thames Estuary 30 miles
from London. Until recent years it was occupied only
by a few farms and scattered houses. To the eye of the casua
observer it presents the appearance of a uniformly level plain,