THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 
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ornate Renaissance gateway-entrance of which was viewed with ap¬ 
preciative interest by the visitors. The inscription on the facade runs :— 
CAROLUS II REX. 
A. REG. XXXIV. 
which is equivalent to the date 1683 : actually the Fort was being built 
between the years 1682 to 1687. 
Crossing the two-mile breadth of marshland between the Fort and 
the line of low hills, running east and west, which rises steeply from the 
alluvial flat and marks the northern limit of the modern Thames valley, 
botanizing was indulged in, and several interesting plants observed : among 
these may be noted Lepidium draba, Trifolium subterraneum, Vicia hirsuta, 
Medicago maculata, and Alopecuvus fulvus. 
Arrived at West Tilbury, lunch was disposed of, and the " Rector’s 
Well,” in an arable field on the slope of the hill, was inspected. This well, 
as was fully explained to the party by Mr. Miller Christy, is one of two 
one-time famous mineral springs in the parish of West Tilbury, 1 sunk 
in the Thanet Sands to an unknown depth, the water of which, whether 
cf medicinal value or not, is still used by neighbouring residents. The 
other well, believed to be the original one of the two, is beneath the floor 
of the kitchen of West Tilbury Hall, and its water is pumped for domestic 
use by a wooden, lead-spouted pump in the kitchen ; the visitors were 
glad to quench their thirst at this classic source and found the water 
perfectly tasteless and most refreshing. It was mentioned that one 
of the original bottles in which, in the 18th century, this water was sent 
out to patrons, is still preserved at the Rectory, but time did not permit 
of its being seen. 
West Tilbury Church with its square tower crowns the ridge of hills, 
and was next visited, but presents little of antiquarian interest, it having 
been largely rebuilt in modern times, but a broken stone coffin-slab with 
a raised cross-pommelee is preserved in the interior, and a small fragment 
of faded mural painting exists in a recess in the south wall of the chancel. 
The hill upon which the church stands is composed of Thanet Sand, 
capped with Pleistocene gravel, and commands most extensive views in 
all directions over the river marshes and across the Thames to the corres¬ 
ponding heights of the Kentish bank. In and about the churchyard, 
several interesting plants were noted, including Saxifraga granulata, Sal¬ 
via verbenaca, Hyoscyamus niger, and, again, Trifolium subterraneum, 
while fine masses of the fungus, Polyporus squamosus, were growing on 
dead and fallen tree-trunks on the slope of the hill. 
Seated on the hill-crest, bathed in the warm sunlight of an ideal spring 
day (although, unfortunately, a heat haze veiled the distant views), with 
skylarks singing overhead, the party listened happily enough to an in¬ 
teresting discourse by our Conductor, Mr. Miller Christy, who gave an 
exhaustive account of the history of the “ Camp Royal,” which was es¬ 
tablished in 1588 on this commanding eminence, and for some two miles 
northwards, to oppose a landing from the Spanish Armada, or an attempt 
to raid London at the same time, a boom of chains and other impediments 
being constructed across the river two miles to the south, from Tilbury 
iFor a full account of the West Tilbury springs, see Christy and Thresh's “ Mineral Waters 
o« Essex,” 1910. pp. 34-43. (Special Memoir of the Club.) 
