THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, May 3, 1890. 



HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB. 



MEETING AT WINCHESTER. 



A new departure was made in regard to the Field 

 Club on Tuesday in holding the annual meeting away 

 from Southampton. It met with considerable success, 

 the attendance being unusually large. The business 

 meeting was held in the Mayor's parlour ot the Guild- 

 hall, when difficulty was found in accommodating the 

 large party assembled. Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., 

 presided. The annual report, read by Mr. W. Dale, 

 F.G.S., stated that 45 fresh members had joined and 

 23 had been lost through death, removal and other 

 causes. The Proceed ings had been enlarged and been 

 exchanged with those of several similar societies. 

 Reference was made to the conversazione and the 

 monthly meetings of the club at Basmgstoke and Old 

 Basing, Mottisfoiit, Thruxton and Quarley, Godshill, 

 I.W., Cheriton and Tichborne, Winchfield, Odiham 

 and Grey well, and a supplementary meeting for the 

 study of fungi in the New Forest. The financial 

 secretary read the statement of accounts which 

 showed a balance brought forward from the previous 

 year of ^35 8s. sd., and receipts from subscriptions, 

 &c., ,65 153. The expenditure, which included sub- 

 scriptions to the Commons Preservation, Footpaths 

 Preservation and Selborne Societies, part 

 expenses of the soiree, printing the Proceedings, 

 stationery &c., though the actual amount was not 

 mentioned, appears to have been kept within the in- 

 come, for the balance in hand at the end of the year 

 was increased to 39. It was proposed by 

 Mr. F. J. Warner, seconded by Dr. Buckell, and 

 carried that the report and statement be adopted and 

 printed in the Proceedings. The election of officers 

 was then proceeded with : Mr. Morris Miles proposed 

 the re-election of Mr. Whitaker as President. Dr. 

 Buckell, of Southampton, seconded, and the pro- 

 position was carried with acclamation. On the 

 motion of Mr. B. W. Greenfield, the Rev. T. Wood- 

 house, Mr. W. E. Darwin, Professor Notter, and the 

 Dean of Winchester were appointed vice-presidents. 

 The President stated that in increasing the number ot 

 vice-presidents the committee proposed that, like that 

 of president, the office should be held only for two 

 consecutive years. This proposal was adopted by the 

 meeting. Mr. Morris Miles was elected treasurer on 

 the motion of the Rev. T. Woodhouse, and his place 

 as financial secretary was taken by Mr. J. Blount 

 Thomas, J.P., it being explained that it would be 

 more advantageous that the financial secretary should 

 be someone in the town. Messrs. 1'. W. Shore and 

 W. Dale were re-appointed organizing and general 

 secretaries. The local secretaries were re-appointed) 

 with the exception that the Rev. J. Vaughan, who 

 had removed from Alton to Porchester. had taken the 

 Rev. A. A. Headley : s place as secretary for Fareham ; 



and with the addition of Dr. E. Buckell for Romsey. 

 The Rev. G. W. Minns was re-elected editor of the 

 Proceedings, Mr. Shore paying testimony to the able 

 way in which he had discharged the duties. The 

 remaining members of the committee (Messrs. 

 Griffith and Crowley) were re-elected. 



Mr. Shore then brought forward the subject 

 of the geological survey of Hampshire ; they had 

 memorialized the Government for a new survey of 

 the county and the Isle of Wight, to be put on the six 

 inch maps, and several maps of portions of the 

 county had been completed, as had the Isle of Wight. 

 These maps would tend to promote the study of the 

 natural history of the county. But they wanted 

 more than that. The information already obtained 

 extended to a comparatively short distance under- 

 ground. They knew, for instance, that a great cake 

 of chalk extended over the county, but they did not 

 know what was 500 feet beneath. With the object of 

 promoting underground exploration in Hampshire, 

 he proposed the formation of a small committee of 

 the Club, to bring the matter before the town and 

 county councils and other bodies. If coal was not 

 found, they might find some other commodity ot 

 commercial value. For instance, as he had men- 

 tioned at the conversazione the other day, they 

 had found in the eastern part of the county 

 some fuller's earth, which formed at one time a staple 

 production of the county. The motion was secpnded 

 by Mr. Dale, and supported by Mr. J. Blount Thomas, 

 and Mr. F. A. Edwards having raised a point as to 

 the " ways and means" of providing for the expenses, 

 which, it was explained, would not fall upon the 

 Club, it was carried, and Messrs. Dale, Colenutt, 

 Thomas and Shore were nominated to be on the 

 committee. 



The Rev. W. L. W. Eyre next introduced the 

 subject of the preservation of the ancient monumental 

 brasses in the county. At Bishop's Sutton, he said, 

 which the Club had visited last year, there was an 

 ancient brass which had been detached from its 

 position in the floor and mutilated and roughly nailed 

 against the wall of the church, apparently uncared 

 for. In the vale of Candover during the last few 

 years, five churches had been destroyed, three or f our ot 

 them containing brasses, which had been lost. He 

 had himself recovered one (to whom it referred was 

 not known) and restored it to the church of Brown 

 Candover, where it was now erected, though without 

 any name. Some reprints of a description of this 

 interesting figured brass, with an illustration, from 

 the Proceedings of the Society for Antiquaries of last 

 year were handed round to those interested. Mr. 

 Eyre moved that a committee of the Club be ap- 

 pointed to look after these brasses. The Mayor of 

 Winchester, Mr. W. H. Jacob, in seconding this 

 spoke of brasses belonging to the College, which 

 duringthealterationshad been taken up and lost ; many 

 had been so lost, to the great disadvantage ot those 

 engaged in making out pedigrees. The resolution, 



