THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB - SNAPSHOTS FROM THE PAST, PART 3
Chris Gibson, 1 Dove House Cottage, Oakley Road, Dovercourt C012 5DR
For the third and final millennial trawl through the history of the Essex Field Club, we
go right back to Volume 1 of the Essex Naturalist, in 1887. Not to the very start of the
Club, though: it had been founded some seven years earlier. For those first few years,
it had published separate Transactions and Proceedings, along with special memoirs,
like the acclaimed Report on the East Anglian Earthquake of April 22, 1884. The
decision to consolidate its publications was seen as the 'coming of age' of the Field
Club. Originally conceived as a monthly journal of at least 16 pages, to be bound into
a lasting journal, Volume 1 comprised 280 pages, some highlights of which are
summarised below.
113 YEARS AGO - Essex Naturalist volume 1, pages 1-280
The scope of the Field Club in Victorian times was considerably broader than today,
covering not only natural history and geology, but also archaeology, history and
indeed any other field of enquiry deemed appropriate for the leisured classes of the
time. So, for example, we can read about Primaeval Man in the valley of the Lea,
complete with fine drawings of Palaeolithic implements; Notes on the saffron plant,
an excursion into its social history and links with Saffron Walden: a discourse on the
correct pronunciation of 'Bois' as in Theydon Bois; and John Norden's map of Essex,
including a facsimile copy of this remarkable map of 1594. Although cartographically
primitive in comparison with the more familiar Chapman & Andre map of 1777, it
does show clearly some of the many more recent changes to the face of Essex, such as
the entrainment of much of the coastline. Most dramatic perhaps is the presence of a
major estuary between Holland and Frinton; this area, Holland Haven, has long been
fully claimed from the sea. By way of comparison, Robert Morden's 1695 map is also
included, by which time the Holland Haven land claim appears almost to have been
completed.
The longest, and perhaps historically most significant, contribution to this volume is
the Report on the denehole exploration at Hangman's Wood, Grays, 1884 and 1887,
by Holmes and Cole. This was the first serious, fully recorded investigation of the
south Essex deneholes, and led to their proper description and evaluation. The
conclusion, which seems to have stood the test of time, was that the deneholes were
prehistoric grain storage units, although clearly they may have been multi-functional,
providing chalk, shelter and protection as well.
Although 'Epping Forest' had already been dropped from the name of the Field Club,
several important papers referring to this area were published, including The deer of
Epping Forest by J E Harting. This is an early foray into the fields of social and
 3
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 33, September 2000