On the Orif/in and f )i.strlhutwn of the liritisJi Flora. Hi 



stream (name ?) from North Weald, then flows south-west to 

 Chigwell and Woodford, and finally south-east past Ilford 

 into the Thames at Barkhig Keach. Near Ilford it receives 

 two streams from Hainault Forest, the upper of which seems 

 to bear the name of Alder sbrook. The entire course of the 

 Eoding is stated by Gibson as 37 miles, and by the Ordnance 

 Survey as 33 miles, the area it drains being 317 square miles.'^^ 

 The Pym or Bourne rises at Stapleford, flows past Havering- 

 atte-Bower, Komford, and Dagenham, into the Thames at 

 Halfway Eeach. Next come three streams of doubtful 

 nomenclature. One flowing west of Upminster and Eainham 

 is marked " Ingreburn" in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica' ; 

 the second flows from between North and South Ockendon to 

 the east of Eainham ; and the third flowing from Thorndon 

 Hall to Stifford and Purfleet is marked Ingrebury in Mr. 

 Gibson's map, but flows past a hamlet named Childerditch. 

 The name Ingrebourne probably belongs to the last. The 

 Eiver Eoach, made up of streams from Hadleigh and Prittle- 

 well and from above Eochford, flows mainly between Foulness 

 and Wallasea Islands. Its basin, with that of the Crouch, 

 includes 181 square miles. The latter river rises near Little 

 Bursted, less than three miles from the sources of the Childer- 

 ditch stream and the Wid, a tributary of the Chelmer, and 

 flows eastward^ having a course of 15 miles. It is doubtful 

 if the name Blackwater is properly applied to more -than the 

 estuary of the great series of streams which drain 434 square 

 miles out of the 1648 which Essex contains. In accordance 

 with this view, the Ordnance Survey gives it a length of only 

 6 miles, as against Mr. Gibson's 46. The stream which rises 

 near Wimbish, and runs by Bardfield and Shalford to Pan- 

 field, ought, at least so far, to be known as the Pant. 



According to the best local authorities the stream should not 

 be called Blackwater until it reaches the village of that name, 

 half-way between Coggeshall and Braintree. The Survey 

 gives the length of the Pant as twenty- eight miles. Below 

 Kelvedon Mill, the Blackwater receives a stream there known 



•^1 [It may be remarked that the name of the river is always spelled 

 "Rhodon" in Warner's 'Plantw Woodfordienses.' — Ei>.] 



K 



