78 NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



development is first realised it is regarded as a revolutionary movement suddenly 

 sprung upon the world. A search into its history, however, might show that the 

 movement originated in much older times, but that, progress being slow in its 

 earlier stages, it passed unnoticed until, suddenly gaining force, the world 

 became aware of the wide changes involvedv 



" Most people would regard our modern municipal enterprises as modern 

 innovations, but there is one — the Colchester Oyster Fishery — which, there is 

 every reason to believe, dates back to the time of the ancient Briton. It is quite 

 certain that the " Colchester Native " enjoyed a wide reputation in the days of 

 ancient Rome, and it has even been humorously suggested that Julius Caesar first 

 visited Britain in order to obtain control of the supplies of this much-appreciated 

 dainty. 



" The first existing documentary evidence of this ancient fishery takes us back 

 to the year 1189, when amongst the privileges confirmed to the municipality of 

 Colchester was the right to fish from ' North Bridge to West Ness.' Other 

 documents clearly indicate that this privilege had been enjoyed by the town from 

 a much earlier time, for the Colchester Red Paper Book contains a proclamation 

 made in Colne Waters in 1,256 by the Bailiffs of Colchester which referred to the 

 fishery rights as having been granted by ' many Noble Kings of England from 

 time out of memory.' There is little doubt that the fishery existed in Saxon 

 times, though probably then maintained by tradition and custom. The shells 

 of the Colchester Native have been found in many Roman stations, and 

 even in Rome itself, whilst at Gloucester the shells ot the Essex native are said 

 to have been found near to the officers' quarters in the camp, the shells of a 

 common oyster having been found about the quarters of the rank and file. Hence 

 a considerable trade was done in these bivalves in the Roman period of our 

 history, and had not the fishery been under municipal control at that time 

 the fisheries would assuredly have been exhausted. 



" There can be no doubt that Colchester was inhabited by an advanced 

 people at the time of the Roman Invasion, and that the fishery was under some 

 kind of control. Oyster-shells have been found amongst the refuse of the 

 earliest British settlements ; to find the beginnings of this enterprise we should 

 possibly have to go back to the days of the " painted savage " who figured so 

 large in the histories of our school days. 



" The later developments of the Colchester oyster industry can be clearly and 

 completely traced for over seven centuries in the written records of the borough. 

 The first document in which we find the fishery mentioned is the Charter of 

 Richard I., 1 189. The fishery rights are confirmed in this and all succeeding 

 charters, but it is to the ancient Court Rolls to which we must turn to learn how 

 the industry giew to its present proportions." 



A Stroll in Epping Forest Fifty Years Ago. — This 

 pleasantly written story of a ramble is quoted from Kidd's Own 

 Journal for 1853 (vol. iii.). There is reason for identifying the 

 writer with the late Mr. De la Chaumette, of Tottenham. 

 " Bombyx Atlas " was an enthusiastic collector of Continental 

 lepidoptera, and his stories of butterfly-hunting in Switzerland, 

 in the form of the auto-biography of his fine old dog " Fino," are 



