129 



WOODLAND RAMBLE AND VISIT TO YARDLEY 

 HILL, EPPING FOREST. 



Saturday, June ioth, 1899. 



This meeting represented our usual Spring Forest Ramble, the late 

 unseasonable and inclement weather having led to its postponement. 



The party met at Loughton Station about 3 o'clock, and walked across 

 the Forest by Strawberry (? Starberry) Hill ponds, High Beach, and Hill 

 Wood (near which the site of Fairmead Lodge, recently demolished, was 

 pointed out (see vol. x., p. 296, and ante p. 56). On the way, the refreshing 

 " leafiness " of the forest trees was much commented upon. The cold 

 weather in May appeared to have been very unfavourable to the larvse of 

 Cheimatobia and Hybernia, of which there were few this spring — a great 

 contrast with some recent years, in which they were so numerous and their 

 ravages so enormous that many trees were almost stripped bare by the 

 beginning of June. It was evident that this year all the trees would make 

 wood abundantly. Meanwhile the forest was looking its loveliest ; all the 

 greens were bright and fresh. 



Crossing part of the " mead," the road up Leppits Hill was taken, and a 

 little beyond the "Owl" (well-known to London entomologists) the party 

 turned into a most pleasant sloping meadow, crowded with flowers, amongst 

 which the great quantity of the pretty Umbellifer, the Burnet Saxifrage 

 (Pimpinella saxifraga), specially attracted attention. The footpath running 

 along the edge of the ridge afforded capital views, extending to St. Paul's 

 Cathedral, and — in clear days — to the Crystal Palace. The latter was not 

 visible on the day of the meeting, and St. Paul's shone out only for a short 

 time, because, although the day was fine and delightful for a country ramble, 

 there was a haze in the distance. A pleasant walk by Gillwell Farm, through 

 Gillwell Lane, led to Yardley Hill, a timbered ridge which projects into the 

 Lea Valley. It is the latest gift of our Vice-President, Mr. E. N. Buxton, 

 J. P., Verderer, and was formally dedicated as part of the Forest by the Duke 

 of Connaught, Ranger, on June ist, and details of this splendid addition are 

 given in another article in the present part [ante p. 78). 



Tea was served in a tent erected on the summit of a hill, by kind permis- 

 sion of Mr. F. F. McKenzie, the Superintendent of the Forest, allowing of 

 most varied and extended views over the wide Lea Valley and the surrounding 

 woodlands. The spot was that on which the ceremony of dedication of the 

 hill was performed on the ist of June. 



After tea the President, Mr. Howard, said that absence from England 

 prevented Mr. Buxton from being present with them that day. They had 

 had a good opportunity of appreciating the beauty and value of Mr. Buxton's 

 most welcome addition to the Forest, and he proposed that the Club should 

 pass a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Buxton for his generosity and public 

 spirit, so often shown for the welfare of the Forest. This vote was passed by 

 acclamation. 



Mr. Cole called attention to the special Report on Queen Elizabeth's 

 Lodge, and the Club's Museum there, which had been recently presented to 

 the Court of Common Council of the City of London by the Epping Forest 



