XXXVIU PROCEEDIKGS OF THE 



and on its site again, from the commencement of the twelfth 

 century, an episcopal residence had existed. The present mansion 

 was commenced in 1607, and the geologist may be interested in 

 knowing that the materials used in its construction, by its builder 

 and architect, llobert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury, consisted 

 chiefly of Caen stone, with stone from Tattenhall in Staffordshire, 

 Worksop in Nottinghamshire, and the quarries of Northampton- 

 shire, and bricks and flints also from the old palace which had 

 fallen into decay. 



After spending a considerable time in the house and grounds, 

 the party proceeded across the park to the brick-fields, noticing on 

 the way Queen Elizabeth's favourite oak, under which she was 

 sitting when the news was brought to her that she was Queen of 

 England, and the fine less-decayed oaks and other trees for which 

 this park is so justly famed. 



In the pits here, the Upper Chalk, and all the beds present 

 at the northern outcrop of the London Tertiaries, are exposed, 

 and are overlaid by the high-level gravel of Post-Pliocene age, 

 the outline of which is well defined by the moistness of the surface 

 of the ground around it. The section was described by Mr. 

 Hopkinson, and compared with the sections of the same beds seen 

 in the neighbourhood of Watford and elsewhere, both north and 

 south of the Thames, and the position of the fossiliferous beds was 

 pointed out. As, however, a detailed description of the section, 

 drawn up by Mr. Whitaker, has already been given by Professor 

 Morris in the Transactions of the Society (vol. i. p. 98), the obser- 

 vations that were made need not here be repeated. For informa- 

 tion on the geology of the immediate neighbourhood reference may 

 also be made to a report of an excursion of the Geologists' Asso- 

 ciation to Hatfield, in 1873, given by Mr. Lobley in the 

 Proceedings of the Association (vol. iii. p. 241). 



In the "basement-bed" of the London Clay a few fossils were 

 collected, and the members of the two Societies then returned 

 to Hatfield across the park in detached parties, and thence, after 

 partaking of tea at the Salisbury Arms, to their respective destina- 

 tions — London, Watford, and various parts of Hertfordshire — by 

 rail or road, having spent a very enjoyable afternoon in one of the 

 most beautiful parks of Hertfordshire, and, for its historical asso- 

 ciations, tlie most interesting in the County. 



To convey the members residing in the neighbourhood of 

 AVatford a special train was engaged from St. Albans to Hatfield 

 and back, the ordinary trains not running at convenient times. 



Field Meeting, 3ed June, 1876. 



Bricket Wood and Common. 



When a field meeting is chiefly devoted to the collection of 

 microscopic objects, there is little to record of its results, and still 

 less to be said iu the fiehl, for it is impossible to determine on the 



