168 CHARLES CARD ALE BABINGTON. [I85a 



Hilgay Island. At Shore Hall are some monastic remains in a farm 

 house, presenting a picturesque mass of domestic buildings on the 

 side next to the road. 



June 1. Went to call upon Thurtell, the rector of Oxborough. 

 Passed through Downham Market by Benwell, Crumplesham, Strad- 

 set, and Fincham to Barton Bendish, where there are two beautiful 

 churches. In the western church there is a singular Norman door, 

 and under the small piscina, a double one is placed in the floor. 

 Followed a grassy lane to the south end of the Devil's Dyke. 

 Examined it as far as the point where the Roman road probably 

 crossed it, and saw its continuance for a considerable distance. It 

 was a boundary line similar to that near Brandon, not presenting 

 any trace of a road. Much of it is destroyed by the plough, and by 

 the filling up of the ditch to level the ground. Ditch towards the 

 east. Bank about seven feet high without the ditch, which seems to 

 have been shallow. There is a difference of several feet in the level 

 of the country, along its line, the west being the higher district. 

 Passed by the three churches at Beechamwell, and examined a nice 

 piece of fen land on the way to Caldecote. It is rich in Carices and 

 other fen plants. At Caldecote is a remarkable mound, surrounded 

 by very aged pollarded elm trees, which was the site of the 

 church. Thence to Oxborough ; returned by Stoke Ferry and West 

 Dereham. 



June 2. Measured a large horsechestnut tree in the grounds of 

 West Hall at Denver ; at four feet from the ground, five-and-a-half 

 feet in diameter. The house has an old and singular gable with 

 inscriptions in panels. Walked through winding lanes to the right 

 of the sluice-road to the common, crossed it, and passed through 

 fields with fine oak trees, across the railway to the North Mill on 

 the Catchwater, then along its bank to Stone Gravel Mill, and 

 returned by Fordham. Returned to Cambridge. 



June 7. The Cambridgeshire Naturalists' Club met at Royston. 

 Hort went with me as a visitor, and we took the early train at 

 7 a.m. Nobody else went so early, and we, after breakfasting, went 

 along the Icknield Way, westwards for about a mile, and then by 

 a footpath passing Limbury Hill to Litlington. Then to Bassing- 

 bourn, Kneesworth, and back to Royston. It was very hot during 

 the latter part of this walk. After resting for a short time we went 

 towards Barley as far as the neighbourhood of Burloes Hill, and 

 found there Fumaria Vaillantii, F. parvi/lora, and F. micrantlia in the 

 fields. After dinner we visited, with the other members of the Club, 

 the cave under the cross in the town. 



June 21. Stratton and I went to Gamlingay. We went over 

 the old pond, the bit of bog above it, and part of the heath. Also 

 the brick pits, and some ground near the brook on the way to Potton. 

 I made a list for the "Flora." On the way back we spent an hour 

 at Eltisley, and I made a list. 



