president’s address. 
632 
Lands awarded to the poor during the opening years of 
the 19th century were not generally the most fertile in the 
district from an agricultural point of view, but for this very 
reason they now frequently prove to be most attractive to 
the nature-student. Having remained uncultivated, they 
retain many forms of wild life which have long been banished 
from other parts of the parish in which they are situated. 
The poverty of common lands, from an agriculturalist’s 
standpoint, arises generally from two extreme causes: lack of 
water, resulting in scanty vegetation and little humus in 
the soil on the one hand, or a plethora of moisture and an 
accumulation of peat on the other. These two extremes are 
to be found in close proximity on E. Ruston Common. 
The parish gravel pit and the parish turf diggings (which 
fifty years ago supplied the chief fuel burnt in every house 
hereabouts) are within a stone’s throw of one another. The 
marsh is but little, and the high ground about 25 feet above 
sea level. 
Two flint Axeheads have been found in the parish within 
recent years by Mr. W. S. Horne, but the only local fossils 
that I have seen are large and small specimens of Echinus, 
Sea Urchins, or “ Fairy loaves.” These, however, may have 
been brought from the coast, as all the roads hereabouts 
have from time immemorial been partly and foolishly mended 
with sea gravel, the natural ballast of our fast disappearing 
beach. 
In the Inclosure Act, an antique boundary stone, called 
“ Lata petra,” is mentioned. A reminder of the Window 
Tax remains at the Manor Farm, where a latticed ventilator 
and light admitter (through which a “Pick Cheese,” Partis 
ceruleus, could enter) still bears the superscription of : 
“ Cheese Room.” The Vicar of Ruston has a Swan right, 
as shown by the ancient county Swan Roll. 
The population of the parish was 516 in 1808 ; by 1851 it 
had risen to 845, falling to 603 in iqoi, thus showing an 
