Journal of Proceedings. xxv 



some amount of skill and agility to safely cross the numerous quag- 

 mires which now and again sought to bar our progress ; whilst every 

 incautious tap at the trees or bushes showered down glistening rain 

 drops upon devoted heads. At Ambresbury we were joined by Mr. 

 D'Oyley (the Hon. Surveyor to the Club), who brought with him some 

 beautifully drawn plans of the two Camps made from his own surveys. 



The archaeologists at once set to work to verify the details of the 

 Earthworks, and Mr. B. H. Cowper gave an interesting sketch of their 

 broad features, and the circumstances under which he first made their 

 acquaintance, seven or eight years ago. He referred to the name Am- 

 bresbury (or " Amesbury," as it is pronounced by the country people), 

 as being identical with that of the well-known town in Wiltshire, near 

 Stonehenge, and the celebrated Vespasian's Camp. The v/ord 

 Ambresbury is thought by some to be derived from Ambrosius 

 Aurelius, a foe of the Saxons. If this derivation is allowed to be cor- 

 rect, we may associate the Epping Camp with the most romantic stories 

 of our history, and may conjure up visions of Vortigern and Merlin, 

 and Tennysonian legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round 

 Table. But descending to mere matters of fact, he said it was curious 

 that so far as he knew no relics had been found in either the Epping or 

 Loughton Camps ; he had often examined them carefully, but could 

 discover nothing in the w^ay of a coin or medal, or other object that 

 would interest the simple antiquary, and enable the true date of the 

 Camps to be fixed. During the examination. General Pitt-Rivers 

 remarked upon the amount of denudation which had evidently taken 

 place from the ramparts, and the large quantity of vegetable and other 

 soil which had accumulated on the ancient level of the Camp. In order 

 to have even a remote chance of finding coins, pottery, or other relics 

 of their founders, it would be necessary to get at the former base of the 

 Earthworks by a careful excavation. 



At Mr. Meldola's suggestion, all discussion as to the nature of the 

 remains was deferred until after tea, and a move was soon made to the 

 Loughton Camp, which was first made known by the researches of Mr. 

 Cowper in the year 1872. Owing to the dampness of the herbage our 

 party was obliged to keep much to the main road, and we so lost the 

 ramble through Monk's Woods, which had been looked forward to as 

 one of the pleasantest features in our programme. Professor Boulger's 

 office as botanical adviser was almost a sinecure. Little opportunity 

 was afforded to the phytological enquirer, and the plants observed 

 hardly call for particular notice ; but few could fail to be struck with 

 the beauty and profusion of the Orchids in the forest openings. Insects 

 of course were very scarce ; with a weather wisdom superior to our 

 own, they refused to creep out from the shelter of their leafy bowers. 

 " Cowper's Camp " was examined by our archaeologists amid the 

 growlings of the coming storm. Viewed from where we stood on the 



