Note 117 — ITER ROMANUM. V. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Among the sand-hills by Sandwich I found a curious plant, which I take to be the
satyrium abortivum
, or bird’s-nest of Gerard: it has a bulbous root of a red colour; the stem sometimes a foot long, whitish like young asparagus, and almost naked; a great spike of white flowers, of the cucullate sort, with a black
apex
: they are exceeding odoriferous. I found much
eryngo
there, which smells pleasantly when broke; and on all the banks of the ditches hereabouts garden-fennel grows in great plenty.
Sandwich is in a miserable, decayed condition, following apace the downfall of its mother Rutupium: it might easily be made the best harbour on this coast, by cutting a new channel for the river about a mile and half through the sand-hills south easterly; for the water of the river Stour would sufficiently scour it, did it run strait, and with that direction. All the walls and bulworks of the town are dismantled, the gates tumbling down; and a few cannon lie scattered here and there. This town likewise might be made very strong; for, besides the river Stour, another rivulet runs through it, that would keep the ditches always full.