SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES 
159 
EXCURSIONS. 
fune 17. — The weather was very unpropilious for our annual pilgrimage to New- 
lands Corner. Nevertheless, sixteen members braved the rain and were rewarded 
with a lovely afternoon, the rain leaving off soon after we left London and only 
returning for a few minutes while we were passing through the beautiful grounds 
surrounoing Onslow House. On reaching Newlands Corner we found that the 
slotms of the morning had cleared the air of all dust, and the panorama of the 
thickly wooded Surrey valleys enclosed by the distant hills was exceptionally fine. 
After a pleasant tea taken under the trees at Newland’s Farm we leisurely wended 
our way back to Clandon Station. Although no special botanical finds were 
made, the more common but no less beautiful flowers were found in great pro- 
fusion ; in [^articular were the wild ro.se trees smothered in dainty bloom. The 
route has been so often described in Nature Notes that details of it ate now 
needless. 
June 24. — On Midsummer Day about thirty meinliers left Guildford station for 
a ramble to Compton, under the guidance of Sir. E. Chapman. The Hog’s Back 
w.is climbed by the old road, now grass-grown, which affords glorious views both 
north and south. The road is of great antiquity, possibly pre-Roman, and was 
used by Henry II. on his pilgrimage of penance to Canterbury. Descending the 
southern slope of the hill by a fieldpath, the party entered the ancient lane at 
the edge of Loseley Woods, which is generally held to have been the Pilgrims’ 
Way. This brought them past the village pottery founded by the late G. F. 
Watts, R.A. Turning towards Compton Village, the wonderful Cemetery- 
Chapel, built and adorned under the supervision of .Sir. and Mrs. Watts, delighted 
everyone. Tea was taken on the lawn of the village coffee-house, and then the 
parish church w.is visited. Mr. Chapman claimed that it was almost certainly 
the most interesting church in Surrey, and drew attention to the tower (prob- 
ably Saxon), to the anchorite’s cell on the south wall, and to the so-called 
leper windows. P.issing to the interior the varied Norman decoration, the 
ancient woodwork, the Easter sepulchre, and other points of interest were noted, 
and above all, the feature for which the church is famous, a vaulted sanctuary, 
with a chapel above containing a piscina, showing that in mediaeval times there 
were actually two altars at the east end, one over the other. The ramble con- 
cluded with a saunter thiough Surrey lanes to Farncombe Station, where a 
hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Chapman. 
July I. — Although there was very heavy rain in the morning, a party of 
thirty (including several members of the Herts County Council Teachers’ Nature- 
Study Class and their Lecturer, Mr. A. E. Burgess, F’.R.H.S.) met Mr. Percival 
Westell, F.R.H.S., M.B.O.U., at Watford Station. A move was at once made 
for Cassiobury, the seat of the Earl of Essex. The house is at present tenanted 
by the Hon. W. R. W. Peel, M.P., and through his kindness the party were 
— under the able guidance of Mr. Dean, the head gardener— permitted to visit 
the gardens and grounds. A tour through “The Wilderness,’’ a charming 
wooded walk, consisting mostly of Scots firs, revealed quite a profusion of plants 
of the Yellow Balsam (Impatiens patviflora). Amongst the many interesting 
objects seen may be mentioned two Tulip-trees in beautiful blossom. Red and 
other Cedars, cut-leaved and copper Beeches, giant Delphiniums, and a bed of 
the new tobacco plant, Nicotiana Sandera. After a hearty vote of thanks had 
been passed to Mr. Dean, the party rambled across Cassiobury Park to Whippen- 
dale Wood, crossing the Riv’er Gade and the Grand Junction Canal en route, and 
proceeding along a most beautiful avenue of lime trees, planted about 1680, now 
in full bloom. Through Whippendale a most gorgeous array of foxgloves could 
not escape attention. In the more open country St. John’s Wort, Wood Sage, 
Centaury, Enchanter’s Nightshade, and other wild flowers were recorded as in 
bloom. .Arrived at Lord Clarendon’s keeper’s cottage, “ The Firs,” Chandler’s 
Cross, the party found tea awaiting them prepared by Mrs. Bamford. After tea 
a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Percival Westell for the arrangements made, 
and the party then made their way along shady, well-wooded lanes, past Grove 
Mill, where the waterfall was much admired, and so on to Watford Station. 
