REPORTS OF MEETINGS 45
The mansion cost £190,000, a prodigious sum in those days, and originally
covered eight acres of the lawns which now separate it from the river. It
included a great quadrangle or inner court with open arcades on two sides
and a central smaller court. James I on a visit is said to have remarked that
it was "too large for a King though it might do for a Lord Treasurer.''
The successors to the earldom soon found the great house too large
to be kept up, and Henry, the fifth Ear], demolished three sides of the great
quadrangle. In 1749 the eastern wing was also pulled down, leaving the
building which we now admire, still the largest of the baronial halls of Essex.
The building is of stone with many mullioned windows along its three-
storied facade. The Great Hall, the roof of which is a storey lower than the
remainder, occupies the centre of the front and to its right and left stand out
the two magnificent entrance porches, two storeys high and with groups of
marble columns at each corner.
Foremost among the grand interior features the Great Hall was admired.
Finely proportioned, richly panelled and hung with many fine portraits,
its chief glory is the magnificent screen of carved oak which occupies the
north end. The plaster ceilings of the chief state rooms are impressive
in the extreme ; that of the saloon is Jacobean and contains 32 square panels
occupied by low-relief subjects and framed by strap-work borders bent down
at the intersections to form pendants. Samuel Pepys expressed his great
admiration of the ceilings in the house when he visited it in 1660.
The choice furniture, the carpets, the rare china and the magnificent books
evoked the admiration of all who were privileged to see them, and great
appreciation was expressed of the loving care which was evidently lavished
upon them by the housekeeper.
Next, the town of Saffron Walden was reached and tea was taken at
the Abbey Hotel. A short formal meeting of the Club, with Dr. Curnock
in the chair, followed, when the following persons were elected to member-
ship :—
Miss J. Pamela Tinker, of "Haven," Shenfield Common. Brentwood.
Mr. C. Tyas Warren, Mrs. Constance Warren and Miss Mary Warren,
of "Cleveland," St. John's Road, Loughton.
Mr. A. C. Brown, of 35,. Forester's Drive, Whipps Cross, E.17.
Mr. A. W. Headley, of 36, Forest Approach, Woodford Green.
Votes of thanks were accorded to Miss Hilbert and Mr. Collar for
their services.
The Bridge End Gardens of the Essex County Council were next visited,
where the superintendent explained that most of the work was done under
his oversight by relays of children from county schools as part of their
educational curriculum. 
A visit to the fine church followed and an inspection of some of the
striking examples of domestic architecture for which this town is so famous:
finally, the coach was regained for the homeward journey at a little before
7 o'clock.
Thanks to our botanical recorders, more than 145 wild-flowers were
noted during the excursion, some of the more outstanding finds being
Adonis annua, Chelidonium majus, Impatiens parviflora, Rhamnus Frangula,
Hippocrepis comosa, Viburnum hamana, Sherardia arvensis, Senecio squalidus,
Hottonia palustris, Salvia Verbenaca, Lamium Galeobdolon, Orchis maculata,
Habenaria bifolia.
Of birds, a dozen species were heard in song, including several of the
warblers, while the entomologists recorded a number of species of butterflies
and moths in various stages, the most notable of which were ova of the
Chocolate-tip Moth (Clostera curtula) and a belated male specimen of the
Orange-tip Butterfly (Euchloe cardamines).