i04 the essex field club. 



Field Meeting at Barkingside and Wanstead. 

 Saturday, July ist, 1893. 



The chief object of this afternoon excursion was to examine the fine and exten- 

 sive sections of River Drift gravel on St. Swithin's farm, Barkingside, by the 

 kind permission of the owner, Mr. Llewellyn Hatton, of Carswell. 



Starting from Snaresbrook station, the party, numbering about forty, under 

 the direction of Messrs. Walter Crouch, F.Z.S., V.-P., and H. W. Monckton, 

 F.G.S., F".L.S., passed through the old grounds of " The Grove " estate to the 

 meadows of the river Roding, over the footbridge, and then by the lane past 

 Fern Hall to the gravel pit. 



The way was neither long nor tedious, but the weather was decidedly warm, 

 and the delightful breeze which sprang up across the meadows was very welcome. 

 Some notes were given en route by Mr. Crouch. He mentioned that " The Grove," 

 Wanstead, had on a previous occasion been visited by the Club, on April 2 Ist, 

 1888 (vide Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 80). The mansion was then unin- 

 habited, but has since been pulled down, the grounds laid out with roads, the long 

 lake filled up, and many houses erected. A series of four interesting lithographs 

 of this place on Indian paper, from drawings by the Hon. Anne Rushout, and 

 copies of miniatures by Plimer of herself and two sisters and their mother. Lady 

 Northwick (jie'e Bowles), were exhibited at the evening meeting. 



The Roding meadows lie low, and the centre of the river is for a long distance 

 the boundary of the parishes of Wanstead and Ilford. The footbridge was rebuilt 

 in 1891, at the joint expense of the two Local Boards, costing over j^8o, the old, 

 narrow, but more picturesque one being in bad repair, and indeed dangerous. On 

 gaining the lane a hollow may be seen opposite Red Bridge House ; here some 

 hundred years ago was a tile and brick kiln, hut the earth has long ago been 

 worked out. In olden times this place was known by the name of " Hockley at 

 the Watering." 



St. Swithin's Farm is now in the occupation of Mr. James Ingram, of Hedge- 

 mans. The farm house, which has recently undergone extensive repairs, is now 

 in private occupation. It was built over 200 years ago. The oaken beams are 

 very thick, and the drawing room is covered with small oak panels, much like the 

 work at Gaysham Hall {vide EssEX NATURALIST, vol. v., p. 184), but here, 

 unfortunately, it is all covered with paint. The house stands high, and is covered 

 with a well grown "Wistaria " {Milkttid). 



The residence, " Carswell," is only about 100 years old. The ancient man- 

 sion of that name stood nearer the farm house on much higher ground, from 

 whence a good view extends over the valley of the Roding from Claybury to 

 Buckhurst Hill, Woodford, and Wanstead. The site is now called " The Hill}- 

 Hoppst," and, until recently, an old man was living who remembered the remains 

 of the old house, which was used as a quarry for building cottages, etc. The 

 foundations are yet close under the surface. This mansion was of great age, the 

 earliest record to be found being in the draft will of Henry Fanshawe (the Queen's 

 Remembrancer, Ob. 1568), of Clay Hall. — " I will Willm. Hopkyns, my father in 

 lawe, to dwell in the house at Carsewell, where he now dwelleth, during his lyfe, 

 paying yerely to myne executor fortie shillings and no more." Thomasine, his 

 first wife, who died in 1562, was daughter of W. Hopkyns {i>ide Essex 

 Naturalist, vol. vi., p. 152). 



