44
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
to visit the lovely Georgian Rectory and the weather having become ideal
for a picnic, lunch was eaten in the Rectory garden, where the hearts of the
botanists were rejoiced by the discovery of Trifolium subterraneum and
Lychnis Viscaria. Thanks having been expressed to the Rector for his
friendly hospitality, the coach was regained in time to reach Great Graces
by 2 o'clock.
Mr. and Mrs. Butcher spent over an hour showing the party their lovely
Jacobean house. The imagination of all was stirred by evidence of the
original size of Great Graces and stimulated by the sensitive presentation
of the loveliness of the part which survives. It was with some difficulty
that the members were persuaded to leave the house and its long Haunted
Walk to keep their next appointment.
At Little Baddow Church. Canon Jesse Berridge remembered some of
the visitors from the visit paid by the Club some years ago, and after a
most friendly welcome he gave a comprehensive account of the development
of the church and of the ancient. British camp which occupied the site in still
earlier times.
The party then proceeded by coach to Danbury, where, after an excellent
tea at "The Spinney" Roadhouse, the parish church was visited. The Rector,
the Reverend Frank Hopkirk, gave a lively account of the church. The
north-east corner had been shut off as a result of bomb damage, but the
main fabric appeared to be sound and the famous wooden effigies of knights
and the funeral helm remain intact. A pleasant view of the countryside
was enjoyed from the back of the church and after a gentle stroll through the
glebe the party embarked for the journey home.
During the excursion a total of 99 species of wild flowers was noted, the
more interesting being Claytonia perfoliata, Vicia hirsuta, Potentilla argentea,
Saxifraga granulata, Tragopogon porrifolius, the newly-recorded alien,
Veronica filiformis, and Ornithogalum umbellatum, the last perhaps a garden-
escape.
VISIT TO SAFFRON WALDEN (862nd Meeting)
SATURDAY, JUNE 22ND, 1946
A party of 35 members travelled by motor coach to Saffron Walden
on the above date, leaving the Castle Hotel garage, Woodford, at 10 a.m.;
an unfortunate wrong turning by the driver in extricating the coach from a
traffic block in Bishop's Stortford caused a delay which necessitated a.
curtailment of the day's programme, but did not interfere with the expressed
satisfaction of all members of the party with the expedition.
Arrived at Quendon, the woods were searched for wild flowers and insects,
and the coach regained for Newport, where Mr. H. Collar, our local guide,
had been waiting for well over an hour!
An inspection of Newport Church had perforce to be abandoned, and
so, after a glance at the Crown House and other of the fine old buildings in
Newport, the coach was regained and a walk to the Ring Camp at Audley
End followed, where the opportunity was taken to secure a somewhat hurried
lunch.
Proceeding on foot to Audley End, the mansion was inspected, by kind
permission of Lord Braybrooke, under the guidance of the steward and the
housekeeper. This great house stands on the site of a Benedictine Priory
founded in 1140 by Geoffrey de Mandeville. The architect was John Thorpe,
and he was occupied for no less than 13 years—from 1603 to 1616—in
building it for the first Earl of Suffolk. This powerful and rich noble was
Lord Treasurer of England and had as his maternal grandfather one of the
principal agents in Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, Sir Thomas
Audley, Lord Chancellor of England.