Proceedinfjs. xxvii • 



On Aug. 19th an excursion took place to Eltbam and Charlton. 

 The first place visited was Eltham Palace, formerly a moated 

 manor house, the foundation of which is commonly ascribed to 

 King John, though probably few parts, if any, of the existing 

 buildings are of so early a date. It was ixsed habitually as a 

 royal residence down to the time of Henry "VIII., and occa- 

 sionally as late as that of James I., and is still Crown property. 

 The most noteworthy of the existing buildings is a noble hall, 

 built by Edward IV., now dismantled, and in a somewhat 

 dilapidated condition, but untouched by so-called restoration. 

 It has a very fine open timber roof, with hammer-beams and 

 pendents, and the perpendicular tracery of the windows and the 

 vaulted roofs over the entrances are very good. The remainder 

 of the site is occupied by several dwelling-houses, which contain 

 portions of old work, though for the most part they are com- 

 paratively modern. The old palace was surrounded by a deep 

 moat, now containing water only on the north and a portion of 

 the east sides. The moat is crossed on the north side by a stone 

 bridge, date about the latter part of the 15th century, which 

 forms a very picturesque object. The party had the advantage 

 of the explanations of Mr. Jones, of the Archaeological Society. 

 From Eltham the party walked to Charlton, passing near 

 Shooter's Hill and the Herbert Hospital, and obtaining on the 

 way a very fine view of the hills in the direction of the Crystal 

 Palace and Croydon, Charlton House, a fine Jacobaean mansion, 

 was also passed. The Eoman camp at Charlton, which was the 

 next object made for, stands on a hill overlooking the Thames 

 and the marshes bordering it on the Kent and Essex shores. The 

 ramparts, much obliterated by the hand of Time, remain only on 

 the W. and S. sides, the hill on which the N. andE. walls of the 

 camp stood having been quarried away by a series of extensive 

 excavations made for the purpose of getting gravel, &c. An ex- 

 cavation on the N.W. side of the hill on which the camp stands 

 shows the Thanet sands resting on the chalk. The junction of the 

 two formations is marked by a bed called "bull-head," con- 

 sisting of green-coated unworn flints, and ranging in thickness 

 from 6 to 18 in., being thicker where it fills up inequalities in 

 the surface of the adjacent chalk. (The same bed is to be met with 

 in the chalk-pit at Park Hill, Croydon). The lowermost 7 ft. of 

 the Tlianet sand are locally called "black-foot" or "strong 

 loam," and are valuable for foundry purposes, being well adapted 

 for moulds for brats castings. The 12 ft. next above the "black- 

 foot" consist of "mild loam," larger grained and less cohesive 

 than that below, and better adapted for moulds for iron castings. 

 These loams are indeed exported for fouuilry use to parts of the 

 world so distant as India and China. The upper part of the 

 Thaaiet sand is a white sand. On the steep face on the E. side 



