98 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



The botanists and entomologists of the party found here much employment 

 among the spring flowers and insects. The beautiful Demoiselle dragon-flies 

 and other water-loving creatures were abundant, and every one was glad to see 

 an occasional Wood-lady, or Orange-tipped butterfly, one of the loveliest of its 

 kind, flitting over the flowers. 



The members returned to the Sewardstone Road by Mill Lane, and thence 

 northward past Sewardstone Lodge and Luthers, to the Royal Oak, a quiet, road- 

 side inn, where the usual high tea had been prepared. This welcome refreshment 

 was partaken of by nearly forty members. 



The return walk was by the footpath nearly opposite the inn, via Sewardstone 

 Green and the old forest way. Bury Path. On the hill slope a halt was called to 

 view the beautiful prospect of the Lea Valley over into Middlesex, with the 

 Alexandra Palace and many a tall spire denoting the numerous villages on the 

 high river terraces, glistening under the rays of the setting sun. 



Subsequent to the above meeting, the following remarks by a writer signing 

 " S.J. A." were printed in the "Waltham Abbey Times" for May 26th, having 

 reference to Mr. Crouch's observation, that about Alfred's period the Lea at 

 Waltham was probably a tidal estuary. Under the heading of " The River Lea in 

 Saxon Times " the writer says : — " I have read with much interest your report of 

 the meeting of the Essex Field Club, and particularly that part of it referring to 

 Sewardstone and the River Lea, for the country thereabouts is a favourite haunt 

 of mine, and the historical associations of the spot have an attraction for every 

 student of the doings of men in the distant past, and that famous ' voyage ' to 

 Ware of the Scandinavian cattle-lifters in the days of Alfred the Good was one of 

 the most remarkable. The ' great ' men of history were so seldom good, that 

 when referring to our Saxon King, who 'died much bewailed of his subjects,' I 

 can't make up my mind to call him Alfred the Great, although his military 

 achievements are to be considered among the greatest of his age, and his 

 engineering skill as exhibited in his ' drainage works ' at Sewardstone must, 

 have impressed other people besides the Danes with proper respect for his 

 greatness. 



" It seems the Danes had constructed at Ware a kind of depot for plunder of 

 all sorts. Whether they were going to or returning from it when they found 

 themselves left high and dry, does not appear ; but the question is, how did they 

 manage to sail to Ware ? The explanation generally given is that in those days 

 the River Lea was a tidal estuary as far as Sewardstone and perhaps beyond ; but 

 unless there has been a vast change in the relative levels of the Sewardstone 

 marsh and the high water mark in the Thames, a tidal estuary at Sewardstone 

 could not have existed — and there is much to show that no such change has taken 

 place within the last thousand years at any rate. Of course we know that in the 

 pre-historic times the bottom of the Lea Valley must have been covered with 

 water, and ages before Roman, Saxon, or Dane was heard of, the pre-historic 

 savage — the very Ancient Briton — dwelt in the woods on the hill sides, or made 

 his home in the tangled jungle by the lake shore. We know he was there, for be- 

 neath (? or rather in the river-gravels. — E.n.) the marsh we find his weapons of 

 flint and bone. But we must not confound him with the Ancient Briton of Cxsar, 

 for he had been dead and gone thousands of years before the legions of Rome 

 were seen on the Kentish hills. But to return to the question of the tidal estuary. 

 Sewardstone marsh, near the mill, is about thirty-six feet above high-water level 



