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followed by Morison in 1672 with records from Isleworth. It was found al several sites in Isleworth,
and between Twickenham and Isleworth (all in Vc21), up until at least 1837 (Kent, 1975). All these
sites were eventually destroyed however, as the countryside between the villages and hamlets along
this part of the Thames was eventually built on. Tordylium also occurred further up the Thames
valley, again close to the river. In 1803 it was recorded in hedgerows at Elton Wick, on the flood
plain close to the river on the Bucks. (Vc24) side of the river, opposite Eton (Druce, 1926); and from
near Frilford (Abingdon), Berks. (Vc22) in 1870 (Druce, 1897). A few miles further north it was
recorded in quantity on road banks at Headington (Vc23), near the centre of Oxford, close to the R.
Cherwell, just before its confluence with the Thames, as early as 1696; - and it was subsequently
found under a hedge on the north side of the Parks at Oxford (Vc23) where it persisted until c.1819,
when the rough ground site was made into flower beds. The Headington site was also eventually
destroyed, in this case by road widening and housing developments. In 1821 it was recorded lower
down the river 'on a bank beyond Jerico' about a quarter of a mile north-west of the observatory
(Druce, 1927).
Miller states in the Gardener's Dictionary of f 768, that Jacob Bobart, 'gardener al Oxford', had sown
the seeds on the banks in Oxfordshire', and it has therefore been assumed by some, that the plant
was originally an introduction. What is not clear, however, is why Bobart should have bothered to
acquire the seeds of such a non-descript plant in the first place; and in view of all the other
contemporary colonies scattered down river, it seems much more likely that if he did scatter any
seeds, he seeded the colony at Parks from an existing colony al Headington.
In 1875, Eyre de Crespigny discovered it in considerable abundance on ditchbanks at Tilbury
(Crespigny, 1877). Judging by the quantity of die plant collected over the next 15 years, herbarium
material having been lodged at the BM, K or CGE for each of the years 1875, 1876, 1877, 1881,
1882. 1885. 1889 and 1890! - it must have been a very substantial colony. Not surprisingly, nothing
was seen of it after f 890, and great excitement ensued when John Ounsted refound it again in die
same area in 1942. John Raven visited the site and reported the discovery to Wilmott at the British
Museum who commented that it was 'a great find as it was supposed to be extinct'. It persisted at the
site, on the banked verges on either side of the east-west segment of Fort Road, north of Tilbury Fort,
until 1984, by which time the annual population had fallen to c.30 plants (Crompton, 1984). A pipe-
laying operation in the same year destroyed all the plants, and deep buried the seed bank, - there has
been no sign of Hartwort at the Fort Road site since then.
In 1949, however, on an LNHS meeting led by Stanley Jermyn, and attended by Ted Lousley,
Hartwort was discovered in considerable quantity on 'the slides' at Benfleet Downs (Jermyn, 1974),
where it has persisted ever smce. In 1966, John Mason located yet another site, on scrubbing over
spoil heaps just south of the new Benfleet sewage works. It persisted at the latter site until the mid
1980s, a record of 25 plants in 1984 being the last documented occurrence, despite searches of die
area since. The site is probably now too scrubbed over to support any plants.
At Benfleet Downs several patches persisted on the upper slopes at the western end of the downs
until the late 1960s, in thermophilic spots at the interface between advancing scrub and open
grassland. Grazing had ceased by this time, and frequent mowing of the scrub margins was
beginning to destroy the Hartwort plants. Stanley Jermyn collected seed from the cut plants in 1968,
and grew plants on to reseed the colony, at the same time getting the mowing regime changed so that
the plants could flower and seed before cutting was resumed (Jermyn, 1974).
Since that time, the downs have rapidly scrubbed over and are now largely secondary woodland.
Ironically, the Nature Conservancy Council sponsored the planting of a wood on the downs, when
the area was established as a Country Park. It is hard now to imagine that Ted Lousley described the
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 16 (1999)