WATFORD NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. Ivii 



old Hertford road being noticed on the way. In a heavy shower 

 of rain the pretty woodland walk by the side of the little river 

 Mimram, alfording every now and then in its windings a fresh 

 glimpse of water, wood, and hill, at length disclosed to view the 

 now more attractive sight of an empty barn, to which the party 

 hastened, reflecting when nnder its welcome shelter how enjoyable 

 might have been the walk just taken in tine sunny weather. 



The rain partly ceasing, the barn was left, not, however, without 

 some reluctance and hesitation, and a few minutes walk, in a gentle 

 di'izzle, brought the party out of Tewin Park and within sight of 

 the fine viaduct, above a quarter of a mile long and one hundred 

 feet high, with forty piers thirty feet apart, which carries the Great 

 Northern llailway across the Mimram valley. Crossing the route 

 taken on leaving the station, a circuit of about two miles having 

 been made, and passing under this viaduct, Digswell Park was soon 

 entered, and Digswell Church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, 

 was visited. In it are some fine brasses in memory of the Perient 

 family, and other objects of antiquarian interest, of which accounts 

 may be found in our county histories. It Avas remarked that the 

 floor of the church had evidently been considerably lowered, and 

 that there had at one time been a fine oak ceiling, a portion of 

 which had been left undisturbed in one of the side aisles. 



On leaving the church an avenue of very fine Spanish chestnuts 

 tempted the party into the grounds of the Manor House, and one 

 of the trees was measured and found to have a circumference of 

 five yards at the height of three feet from the ground. 



The rain had now ceased for a time, and a pleasant walk through 

 fields and woods and across an avenue of lime trees brought the 

 party to the Kectory grounds. Openings hei'e and there in the 

 thickly- wooded grounds now strolled through, disclosed distant 

 views of hilly woodland scenery, and the geological characters upon 

 which this scenery depended were remarked upon. A halt was 

 now called for luncheon, which had to be partaken of standing 

 under shelter of the trees. Here some of the botanical finds of 

 the morning were examined, and amongst them the tway blade, the 

 bird's nest, the eai'ly purple, and the spotted orchis were produced. 



Sherrards Park Wood, a good botanical hunting ground, was next 

 strolled through, but being on the Boulder- clay, to which indeed its 

 presence is due, it was difficult to find a path through it on which 

 mud or water was not standing for some considerable depth, and 

 impossible to wander off the path in search of its botanical 

 treasures. 



The single line of rails to Dunstable, which leaves the main line 

 at the same spot as the Hertford branch, but in the opposite direc- 

 tion, passes through this wood in a deep cutting, which exposes a 

 good section of the Reading beds reposing on the Chalk and capped 

 by boulder-clay and pebble-gravel. A little farther on, the lino 

 passes almost through a brick-field, the next place to be visited. 

 The route chosen was by Ayot Green, not the nearest way, but the 

 Green is well worth visiting ; cottages in picturesque groups skirt- 



VOL. IT. — PT. VII. G 



