THE ESSEX FIELD CLUR. 77 



forest laws of the Norman kings, who lived at " Pryors," to which wa}- was then 

 made across the meadows. 



Vegetation was especially advanced in sheltered, sunny places. The 

 Hawthorns showed an abundance of flower-buds, and at least one fully 

 opened spray was gathered. It was noted that the foliage on that particular 

 flowering shoot was more like that of the Plum than Hawthorn, both as 

 regards form and margin. Ivy-leaved Speedwell (F(?ro«/'ca //^a'i?;-//^Aa), Jack-by- 

 the-Hedge (^Erysimum aUiaria), Stitchwort, Arum, Strawberry-leaved Potentilla 

 (^P. fragariasintni), Beaked Parsley, Ground-ivy, Goldilocks {Ranunculus aitrico- 

 mus) were a few of the plants collected, In many spots Mr. Houston found 

 that the leaves of Ranunadus ficaria were covered with the " Cluster-cups " of 

 Uromyces pace, a fungal parasite, which, as its name testifies, passes part of 

 its life in some species of Poa (either P. annua, P. pratensis, or P. trivialis). 

 One or two examples of the '' Cluster-cups " of Pnccinia perplexans on Rammculiis 

 aciis were also found. The summer stage of this parasite is passed on the 

 Meadow Fox-tail grass (Alopecurus pratensis'). 



At " Pryors," the members were most hospitably received by Mr. Miller 

 Christy, and some time was spent over " afternoon tea," and in examining the 

 house and its contents, including some very fine rubbings of Essex Brasses, which 

 are pet studies of Mr. Christy. 



" Pryors " is the remains of what was until recently an extremely picturesque, 

 but moderate-sized and unpretentious Elizabethan manor-house. It is situate in 

 the south-west part of Broomfield parish, about a mile from the church. The 

 estate originally belonged to the Priory of Blackmcre, hence the origin of its 

 name. Upon the suppression of the monasteries, it was granted, on 17th 

 October, 1544, by Henry \TII. to Richard Roger and Robert Taverner. After 

 being owned in succession b}' William Garrard, William Eyre, father and son, 

 Thomas Wallenger, and Edward Elliot (see Morant's "Essex," vol. ii., p. 77), 

 the estate pass-d about 1590 into the possession of the Man woods, who 

 held it for more than a century. John Manwood, of Lincoln's Inn, coun- 

 sellor-at-law, and author of a well-known work on the '• Forest Laws " 

 (London, 4to, 1592), probably built the present house. He devised the 

 estate to >his son Thomas, of Lincoln's Inn, and of Pryors, who died 20th 

 September, 1656. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Love, Vice- 

 Admiral in the reign of James I., and lelt an only surviving son John, and 

 numerous daughters, one of whom. Love Manwood, married Thomas Cox, vicar 

 of Broomfield, the author of man}- learned translations, and compiler of six vols, 

 of " Magna Britannia," and died at the age of ninety-nine. John Manwood 

 died nth April, 1705, leaving a son Thomas, who died unmarried, and be- 

 queathed the estate to Thomas, son of his sister Catherine, married as second 

 wife to Oliver Pocklington, rector of Chelmsford. Thomas Pocklington, 

 attorney-at-law, of Chelmsford, erected, on 26th January, 1728, a marble monu- 

 ment in Broomfield Church, to the memory of his ancestors, of the Latin 

 inscription of which a translation is given by Wright in his " History of Essex " 

 (vol. ii., p. 187). From Thomas Pocklington, or his descendants, " Pryors " was 

 purchased, about the beginning of the present century, b}- Mr. Miller Christy, 

 great-grandfather of the present tenant. From him it descended to Mr. Samuel 

 Christy (afterwards Chrislie-.Miller), and, on his death in 1889, it became the 

 property of Mr. Wakefield Christie-Miller. 



Until the year 1890, the house, which stands some distance back from the 

 road, among a number of fine elm-trees, exhibited on its eastern side, a series of 

 five antique gables, with two clusters of imposing, though rather plain, brick 

 chimneys, four in each. The northernmost gable, which is of brick, is the most 

 picturesque, presenting a bow window with brick muUions, carried up to the 

 second storey. This gable, together with the chimney-stacks, and the northern 



