262 THE ESSEX FIF.LD CLUB. 



"Conductors." But in spite of these adverse conditions more than 50 

 members and visitors attended, and Mr. Primrose McConuell, B.Sc, F.G.S.. 

 and Mr. I. Chalkley Gould efficiently acted as leaders. 



The party assembled at North Weald Station about 10 minutes to 3, and 

 Mr. McConnell at once led the way to the Ongar F'ark Woods, where the 

 keeper was in attendance. 



Ongar Park Woods are portions of the old Forest of Essex, considerably 

 changed by long years of planting and management as game woods. They 

 formed part of the " Purlieus " of the Forest, for the history of which Fisher's 

 Forest of Essex, pp., 159-170 should be consulted. Very considerable 

 information respecting the natural history of these woods will be found in the 

 reports of previous visits, in our Journal of Proceedings, vol. ii., pp. xliii.-xlvi. 

 (" From Epping to Theydon Garnon ") and Ibid, vol. iv., pp. civ.-cviii. In 

 the latter report, some editorial remarks on the Purlieus will be found (p. cvii., 

 foot-note). The late Mr. English there gave many detailsof the entomology of 

 the woodlands, and Prof. Boulger of the botany. 



On the present occasion, Mr. McConnell called a halt at the " Eight 

 Wents " and remarked that it was almost exactly 18 years since the Club 

 had visited Ongar Park Woods. The place where they were standing at the 

 moment was the meeting point of eight "Wents" or "Wonts," rides which 

 radiate in straight lines outward like the spokes of a wheel. The Ordnance 

 Map showed that these were at mathematically exact distances from one 

 another ; one of the rides, however, had within the last thirty years been 

 allowed to grow up and become obliterated, in the interests of game 

 preservation. The centre point had at one time been occupied by a spruce 

 fir tree— long gone however. The height above sea level of this centre point 

 was 340 ft., so that it was thus the third or fourth highest point in Essex. 



Ongar Park Wood was a remnant of the ancient Forest of Essex, 

 and was continuous with Epping Forest, though now for many generations 

 it had been private property. The district of Ongar Park was one 

 of the seven "Purlieus" of the Forest of Waltham (which included 

 what is now Epping Forest) and the name was common to several of the 

 present day farms and woods of the neighbourhood— such as the speaker's own 

 farm, Ongar Park Hall, also Ongar Park Eodge, Ongar Park Grove, etc. 



The prevailing timber tree of the Wood was hornbeam, but many other 

 species were quite common, and some specimens of the Wild Cherry 

 (PriiHiis cerasiis) and of the American locust-tree (Robiiiia /'scudctcacia) were to 

 be found. 



The late Mr. English had collected some specimens of rare moths— such 

 as the " Camberwell Beauty" and the "Great Emerald," in these rides 

 in bygone years. 



The geological formation of the ground over which they had come 

 was largely Glacial Drift on the top of the London Clay, with small patches 

 of the Chalky Boulder Clay of East Anglia. The surface soils were thus 

 composed of the corresponding gravelly, marly, and clayey material ; the two 

 first being the basis of most of the arable fields in the neighbourhood, while 

 the clay is mostly in permanent grass land. The heathy portion they had 

 crossed was given on the Geological Survey map as " Pebble Gravel." 



