ee — — 
aor 
~~ 
Proceedings. lxi 
favoured by magnificent weather, and there was a good atten- 
dance. A more lovely region can hardly be found than this, 
where the three fair counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex join, 
diversified as it is by hill and vale, wood and stream, and in 
early June looking at its brightest with the vivid green of the 
young foliage, the snowy blossom of the hawthorn, and the 
abundance of flowers of varied hues. It is hard to imagine that 
this peaceful scene was until little more than a century ago a 
part of the Black Country of England, as South Staffordshire is 
now. Yet that such was the case is witnessed not only by 
history and tradition, but by the evidence of local names like 
Furnace Mill and Hammer Pond, by old heaps of slag, and by , 
specimens ofthe local iron manufacture which are still to be seen. 
The Wealden beds yielded the iron ore, which was smelted 
with charcoal, obtained by cutting down the forests; and the 
streams, dammed up to form ponds, yielded the motive power 
for working the furnace blast and forge hammers. Several well- 
preserved monuments, cast of the local iron, are to be seen at 
Cowden Church, which was courteously shown to the party by 
the rector. The church also contains, among other interesting 
features, an hour-glass in a stand, affixed to the fine Jacobean 
pulpit, and used for timing the preacher’s discourse; also some 
massive timber-work supporting the belfry and spire, and taking 
the place of a chancel arch. 
From Cowden the party went on to Holtye Common, passing 
some picturesque old houses with quaint brickwork chimneys, 
and halted for lunch at the Furnace Pond. The more energetic 
members of the party then walked on some two miles through 
_ beautiful woods to visit an ancient camp at Dry Hill in the 
parish of Lingfield, and therefore within the Surrey boundary. 
This camp occupies the summit of a wooded hill more than 
500 ft. in height, from which extensive views are to be obtained 
in almost every direction, from Hindhead on the west to Crow- 
borough Beacon on the south-east. The camp, though locally 
called the Roman camp, is British rather than Roman in form, 
being nearly circular in shape, not square, but following the 
contour of the hill. It is about a quarter of a mile in diameter. 
The rampart is fairly well preserved on the west side, where it 
consists of a double line of ditch and bank, but is more or less 
obliterated on other sides. 
A somewhat doubtful stone implement was picked up by one 
of the party. It was formed of a highly fossiliferous piece of 
sandstone. These were the only fossils seen during the day, 
although several quarries of the local rock—Ashdown sandstone 
" —were examined. At one place where the massive beds of this 
sandstone cropped out in the side of the valley the rock had been 
excavated to form a rude kind of cave dwellings. 
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