xlviii 
PROCEEDINGS OE THE 
seemed to be in the same state as when visited by the Society in 
1882, when an account of them, with a section of the beds in the 
higher pit, appeared in the ‘Transactions’ (Yol. II, p. xxix), they 
need not here receive any further mention. 
After a pleasant stroll across the fields, by woods in which the 
bluebell was flowering in profusion, giving them a rich carpet of 
blue, the high road from Rickmans worth to Pinner was reached. 
This road borders Moor Park from Rickmansworth to Batchworth 
Heath, a distance of a mile and a half, one-third of which was now 
traversed to arrive at the Heath. 
At Batchworth Heath, the name formerly of the common, now 
of the hamlet of cottages surrounding the common-land, we have 
again a gravel-capped hill, 360 feet above sea-level; but here the 
gravel, a pebble-gravel like that before visited, is on the London 
Clay. This point commands extensive views of the country to the 
south and east. Below, on the south, lies Ruislip Reservoir, and 
far beyond are seen the hills of Surrey; on the east are Pinner 
Hill and Oxhey Woods, and between, beyond Pinner on its inlier 
of Woolwich and Reading Beds, stands out Harrow Hill on the 
London Clay capped by an outlier of the Bagshot Sands, which 
sands have preserved, and still are preserving, the summit of the 
hill from denudation, achieving, but on a larger scale, that which 
the bed of gravel first visited has done for its little hill. 
Entering Moor Park, and still traversing the bed of pebble- 
gravel, Cardinal Wolsey’s oak was pointed out on the left—a tree 
not planted by him, but under which, it is believed, was his 
favourite seat; and all around were seen the oaks pollarded by 
order of the Duchess of Monmouth on her husband’s execution in 
1685, most probably from the desire to prevent them from ever being 
used as timber for the Royal Navy.* 
The “ Hpper ” or “ Old Pleasure Grounds ” were then visited, by 
the kind permission of Lord Ebury. These grounds are about twenty- 
five acres in extent, and they command a fine view of the country 
to the north, beyond the valley of the Colne. The boundary of 
the Batchworth Heath gravel-bed passes across them, and the 
London Clay on which it rests holds up the water which percolates 
through the gravel, a circumstance which has been taken advantage 
of in forming an ornamental sheet of water in the centre of the 
grounds, which adds much to their picturesqueness. 
Almost too long did the party linger in these beautiful grounds, 
which were left with reluctance only just in time to catch the 
train to Watford, to visit Watford House, where Dr. Brett enter¬ 
tained the members of the two Societies with refreshments on the 
lawn. The assembled company, to the number of thirty-four—not 
all who had taken part in the meeting, for some had to go on direct 
to London—were photographed, and the proceedings of the after¬ 
noon were brought to a close. 
* See ‘ Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ Yol. II, p. 14. 
