44 



life, but they do generally harbour many good species, and past 

 records have given abundant proof that these charts and commons 

 are no exception to the rule. 



As to means of communication, it must not be assumed from 

 remarks that have occurred in the reports of the various field 

 meetings that the district is by any means difficult of access. It is 

 true that in making arrangements for a party, which one naturally 

 hopes may be a large one, many and diverse interests have to be 

 considered; and, as the strength of a chain is that of its weakest link, 

 so in the case of a party, one has to study the convenience of the 

 member of it whose walking capacity is the least and the one who 

 may have the longest journey to make for home ; but when one is 

 alone upon the war-path, or in the company of but one or two com- 

 panions, all such considerations vanish, and the extra mile's walk or 

 somewhat later train home become matters of no importance. In 

 such circumstances the western end of the hills, namely, Limpsfield 

 Chart, Crockham Hill Common, and Hosey Common, are best 

 worked from Westerham Station, the three taken together making 

 a convenient round of five miles. Brasted Chart and Toy's Hill are 

 within easy distance of Brasted Station. The Fawke Common 

 district is reached from Sevenoaks, Tubs Hill, Station on the 

 S.E.R. main line by walking through Sevenoaks town and Knole 

 Park, and Seal Chart is, as already mentioned, within a couple of 

 miles of the L.C. &: D.R. Bat and Ball, Sevenoaks, Station, the 

 time occupied by the railway journey between London and either 

 of these stations being approximately an hour. I do not think 

 that I can add anything that is likely to be useful to any of our 

 members who may elect to work this district, they will no doubt 

 be able to arrange the details of their peregrinations to suit their 

 own convenience ; but in conclusion I should like to add a word 

 or two on a matter that may not be altogether devoid of interest, 

 namely, the possible origin and meaning of the term " Chart " as 

 applied here. 



So far as I am aware, the term " Chart " is a local one, confined 

 not only to the County of Kent, but almost exclusively to the small 

 portion of the county that we have under review * ; here, however, 

 it is in general use, being printed in the maps of the Ordnance 

 Survey to denote certain defined areas, and is in everyday use by the 

 local inhabitants. 



In " Pegge's Alphabet of Kenticisms," dated 1735, and published 

 by the English Dialect Society in 1876, the meaning is thus defined : 

 " Chart, common rough ground over-run with shrubs, as Brasted 

 Chart, Seale Chart; and, indeed, there runs a tract through this 

 County, which one may call the Chart of Kent, Westerham, Brasted, 

 Whitley Shrubs, etc. Hence the Kentish expression charty 



* The villages of Great and Little Chart in the Ashford district, said to be 

 of Saxon origin, were originally spelt Certh ; the name probably has no con- 

 nection with the Charts of the western end of the county- 



