116 
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 
was inspected. The building has been regarded as Saxon in origin, but 
the recent discovery of fragments of ornamented stone work of a 
transitional character between the Norman and Early English styles 
confirmed a suspicion previously aroused by the construction of the 
building. The large gravel pits between Wicken and Arkesden next 
received attention. Mr. Whitaker pointed out that the 40 feet of 
gravel and sands shown in these pits were at a higher level than the 
deposits pierced in the Newport wells and probably overlay them. The 
gravels were classed by Searles Wood as Mid-Glacial, and he confirmed 
their glacial age. They appeared to run in under the great deposit of 
boulder clay which covered the highest ground in the district, and were 
found underlying that’ deposit in many local well borings. 
The drive was continued to Wood Hall, Arkesden, where they were 
received by Mr. Charles Beadle, and light refreshments were partaken of. 
Great interest was taken in the curiously carved chimney beam, part of 
the original house and probably of the time of Henry VIII. ; while the 
appointments and gardens of the fine old residence were greatly admired. 
A hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Beadle closed a short but most enjoyable 
visit. In Arkesden village the enormous elm tree, one of the largest 
in the county, was noticed, and the group of large stones collected in the 
fordway below the old bridge. These were pronounced to be remnants 
from the great sheet of sandstone and conglomerate, or pudding-stone, 
which once covered wade areas in the Eastern and Southern counties 
overlying the chalk. This formation had been gradually worn through 
and broken up in past ages, and only the larger and heavier fragments 
remained on the present surface. They were best termed “ Sarsens,” 
an ancient word for stones, and were not “ boulders " in the geological 
sense of transported rocks, foreign to the district in which they were 
found. After an inspection of Arkesden church, the drive led through 
lanes to Duddenhoe End, where they were entertained to lunch by Mr. 
J. F. Wilkes in one of the fine old timbered barns on his estate. 
The President called upon Mr. Morris, B.Sc., to offer some remarks 
upon the chief object of the day’s expedition, the areas of Boulder-clay 
land which have been lying out of cultivation for many years. Mr. 
Morris, who has made a special study of the vegetation of these waste 
grounds, described the relation between the geology and botany of the 
district leading up to the development of the characteristic vegetation 
which has covered the waste grounds since their abandonment 20 to 30 
years ago during the great depression of corn prices. He outlined the 
succession of peculiar phases or plant associations, which finally converted 
those areas into thick thorn scrubs. A general discussion took place 
in which Mr. Wilkes confirmed the statements that it was the lands mostly 
expensive to work which went soonest out of cultivation in times of de- 1 
pression, and that the reason for the position of the oak woods on the 
high ground was that they undoubtedly represented patches of original 
forest, left untouched in the gradual extension of arable ground because 
they occupied the areas where the clay was heaviest and most unprofitable 
to work. 
After lunch the party walked across a belt of cultivated land 
on the Boulder-Clay. The fine crops of wheat and beans were noted. A 
