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name means Godith's Sheep Fold. The church has
a 100 foot high tower. It lies in the valley
of the River Can, which is only a small stream
when crossed in the Essex Way
On the way to Pleshey we found Field Scabious,
with its free anthers outside the flowers, Old
Man's Beard, proclaiming the calcareous nature
of the soil, the large Pendulous Sedge with its
triangular stems, and Hardheads and Restharrow.
The green lanes approaching Pleshey eventually
led us to lunch at "The White Horse".
Past the sewage works and near the reservoirs
we found the Water Plantain, which is no relation
to the plantains on your lawn, and the blue green
Hard Rush with interrupted pith inside its stems.
Soon Great Waltham church came into view,
which contains monuments to the owners of a
country house called Langleys. The first owners
were the Everards, but since 1685 the owners have
been the Tufnells. The way passes through the
grounds of Langleys, crossing the River Chelmer
as it does so. We paused to look at the animal
cemetery, where the pets of the owners are buried.
A long hot walk followed along fields eventually
emerging at a Farm Shop in Chatham Green, where
we gratefully consumed refreshments, before we
faced another hot trek to Little Leighs Church.
This is one of the earliest Norman churches
erected after the Conquest. It contains an
effigy of a priest carved out of oak. Perhaps
the churchyard is too well kept at the expense
of a rare Essex plant, the Larger Wild Thyme.
This has a square stem with hairs only on the
angles. This is one of very few Essex sites for
this plant and hopefully it is now receiving