206 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



Chelmsford Museum) assembled, the '• Directors" being Mr. F. Chancellor, J. P., 

 the President, Mr. E. A. Fitch, F'.L.S., and Mr. Edmund Durrant. In breaks 

 and other vehicles the party was driven along the Baddow Road, and so through 

 the fine avenue of old oaks, elms and beeches to the site of " Great Grace?," 

 Little Baddow, where Mr. Chancellor desciibed the interesting features of the 

 remaining fragments of this once important manor house, which takes its name 

 from the family of De Gras, the ancient owners. An account of the former 

 possessors and the present condition of the building ma}' be read in Mr. Chan- 

 cellor's magnificent work, " The Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex," 

 page 64. The fragments still remaining consist of a portion of the south-east 

 wing, and one of the grand old chimney shafts, and inside one of the old square 

 staircases with cut newels and ballusters. It is now a farm house. 



The weather was lovely, and the ramble through Blake's Wood to " Old 

 Riffhams " (where Mr. Charles Smoothy hospitably received the party), a struc- 

 ture also anciently a manor house, which was probably originally a wooden 

 structure, and afterwards encased in brickwork. Mr. Smoothy's knowledge of 

 natural history is well known ; the greater part of his collection of birds (pre- 

 sented by himself) is on loan at the Chelmsford Museum ; but attention was 

 directed to a Honey-Buzzard, specimens of the Long and Short-eared Owls — all 

 loc^l specimens, and a Golden-eyed Duck, and a Swan, shot in company with 

 Mr. Fitch on the Blackwater, and a Danbury Raven killed by mistake for a 

 Carrion Crow. Close by the house in Holly Grove were shown nests of the 

 Kingfisher, Flycatcher and Wren — the last-named without a dome, under an old 

 coat. 



The ramble through the Holly Grove was a delightful experience, the abund- 

 ance of Foxgloves and the pretty White Fumitory {Corydalis clavicnlata) in 

 full bloom being noticeable features ; while the abundant flowers of the Yellow 

 Pimpernel (^Lystmachia nummiilarui) in the damp rides was a welcome sight. 

 Dr. J. E. Taylor acted as botanical " Conductor," and readily imparted infor- 

 mation to non-botanical members on the numerous plants found in the woods. 

 Then over Lingwood Common (from whence a vast panorama of lowland Essex 

 was visible), through " Bell Hell Wood," concerning the origin of the name 

 of which old Holinshed relates a wild legend. 



Leaving this wood the party passed up the meadows to Danbury, where, 

 at the ancient and well-known " hostelry called the ' Griffin,' near Baddow " 

 (immortalised in these words in the introduction to " Waverley "), a cup of tea, 

 enjoyable after the long ramble, and more substantial viands, awaited the pedes- 

 trians. The " Griffin " is also mentioned several times in Strutt's romance of 

 " Queenhoo Hall." 



Danbury is a village of great interest. It has been commonly described in 

 local guide books as the " highest land in Essex " ; but this is an en or, as par;s 

 of Epping Forest exceed it in height, and the highest elevations in Flssex are 

 found in the north-west parts of the county (see ante, p. 172). The Club visited 

 Danbury on .August 13th, 1881 (Proc. E. F. C, vol. ii., liii.), and in the report of 

 tie meeting on that occasion much information about the village and church 

 will be found. The Early-English church (St. John the Baptist) stands within 

 the bounds of Danbury Camp, figured in Morant's " Essex," and more accurately 

 by Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell in EssE.X Natur.alist (vol. iv., 138). The ancient 

 and interesting features of the church were pointed out by Mr. Chancellor, 

 notably the three cross-legged wooden effigies of Crusaders, presumably the St. 



