THE ESSEX FIELD CI.UP.. 



103 



were glistening with the bright golden buttercups and specified with daisies and 

 cucI<oo-flowers. The bordering coppices were voiceful with birds and the min- 

 gled hum of insects, while overhead the clear blue sky, on either side glimpses 

 of thatched and red-tiled cottages embowered in flowers, beyond white mansions in 

 undulating timber-studded parks, and further yet (and later in the afternoon) the 

 wooded heights of Brentwood and the forest, all blended into a succession of 

 rural pictures, scents and sounds delicious, such as English (and Essex) lanes in 

 spring can alone furnish forth. The early white butterflies were busy in the 

 gardens and meadows, and flitting along the banks of ^/n'w^;-/?//;/ or " Jack-by-the- 

 Hedge," were seen numerous " Orange-tipped" butterflies, which so well deserves 

 the rustic name of " Wood-lady " as one of the prettiest of English insects. 



Of Theydon Bois little need be said on the present occasion. Mr B. Winstone 

 published in the first volun?e of the ESSEX Naturalist (pp. I53-I59) ^i" enquiry 



Timber Porch of Theydon Garnon Chukch (Winter). 

 Frotti a Drawing by H. A. Cole. 



into the origin and true pronunciation of the word " Bois," in which much 

 local information was given. The church is comparatively new, having been 

 built in 184.4 ; but a few years later it required rebuilding, being found unsound, 

 and the present building, close by the Green, dates only from 1851. The old 

 churchyard may still be seen near Theydon Hall on the way to Abridge ; but the 

 church itself was pulled down, being far awa}^ from the village. It was very 

 small, dedicated to St. Mary, and a small engraving of it was done by John 

 Ogborne. 



Theydon Hall, near the church, belonged to the Meggots and Elwes of 

 Suffolk, and it was here that John Elwes, the well-known miser, lived. John 

 Strype, the antiquary, was curate of Theydon Bois for a short time in 1669, and 

 then went to Low Leyton, of which he remained vicar for sixty-eight years. 



Crossing the railway, the lane was followed to Theydon Garnon Church, 

 shortly before reaching which a halt was called at a spot where Mr. I. Chalkley 



