cxlvi Journal of Proceedings.
spread over the spot, and no memorial of any kind. His various pub-
lished works, principally on Druidical and Roman remains, are well
known and of great interest.
But older records than any in this church have been discovered
here within our own memory. In 1803, during the construction
of the northern main drainage, which runs close by, were
unearthed a large stone sarcophagus with two skeletons therein, and
several leaden coffins, ornamented with escalop shells, and astragal
mouldings, and over twenty cinerary urns, containing ashes and fragments
of bone. Some of these urns were pronounced to be of Roman, and
others of British manufacture,1 and the find undoubtedly of Roman
period. Most of these remains were given by the Board of Works to the
Trustees of the British Museum, where they may be seen. They have
been well engraved by Mr. A. F. Sprague for the ' Transactions of the
Essex Archaeological Society.' "
The new church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is cruciform in
plan and was built in 1866.
The next stoppage was made at Barking, where the tower of the
" Chapel of the Holy Rood " and the site of the old Abbey Church were
visited, the latter under the guidance of Rev. R. Merrick and Mr. King,
who showed a plan of the old church and numerous remains of it, as well
as an abbess's ring found upon the finger of her skeleton when her tomb
was opened. A visit was also paid to Barking Church, where Mr. W.
Crouch read a few notes, from which we extract the following :
" Barking is a very large parish, over thirty miles in circumference,
and contains 12,306 acres, contrasting strangely with East Ham and its
2,000 acres. It embraces not only the town of Barking, but that of
Ilford, and the whole district of Barkingside, and, by the census of 1881,
contained nearly 17,000 inhabitants. Over this large district are many
old manors, and some fine residences still exist, such as Valentines,
Cranbrook, and Clayberry Hall; but these we can but mention to-day,
as it is Barking itself and Eastbury House which claim our attention.
The Market House and Town Hall above, erected in 1567, are still
remaining. The entrance to the churchyard is through the archway of
a square stone tower, with embattled top and octagonal turret, known as
the Curfew Tower. In the small room above the archway, called the
chapel of the Holy Rood, is a quaint sculpture of the Crucifixion, with a
female on either side of the rood, but it is questionable if this was its
original position. It was, in all probability, brought from some portion
of the Abbey when it was pulled down. Through the avenue we come to
the fine old church, with its massive and lofty stone tower, some eighty
feet in height. It is dedicated to St. Margaret, and consists of a chancel,
nave, one south and two north aisles, and contains some fine monuments.
In the north aisle are those of Sir Crisp Gasgoyne, of Bifrons, who died
in 1761, the father of Bamber Gasgoyne, the 'Barking King'; one to
Captain John Bennett, with bust of himself, surrounded by ships and
naval trophies, 1706 ; one to the memory of Sir Charles Raymond, Bart.,
of Highlands (a house overlooking Wanstead Park, which was afterwards
sold to the Tylneys and pulled down). This Sir Charles had the curious
triangular brick tower, known as Ilford Castle or ' Raymond's folly,'
built in 1765, as a Mausoleum, for himself and family, but it was never
used for that purpose, and not even consecrated. It still exists and is a
conspicuous object from Wanstead and Barkingside. There is another
mural tablet to his daughters' memory, 1783, also bust of Francis Fuller,