British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car - Being A Record Of A Five Thousand Mile Tour In England, - Wales And Scotland

Thomas Dowler Murphy

Informations

• Publié par: nepher
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 24
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car
by Thomas D. Murphy
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car
Being A Record Of A Five Thousand Mile Tour In England,
Wales And Scotland
Author: Thomas D. Murphy
Release Date: December 13, 2005 [EBook #17297]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS ***
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online
Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net.OLD HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES IN LEDBURY.
From Water Color by B. McGuinness.British Highways
and Byways
From a Motor Car
BEING A RECORD OF A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TOUR IN ENGLAND,
WALES AND SCOTLAND
BY
Thos. D. Murphy
With Sixteen Illustrations in Colour and Thirty-two Duogravures From
Photographs; Also Two Descriptive Maps.
BOSTON
L.C. Page & Company
MDCCCCVIIICopyright, 1908
BY L.C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
All rights reserved
A FOREWORD
In this chronicle of a summer's motoring in Britain I have not attempted a guide-
book in any sense, yet the maps, together with the comments on highways,
towns, and country, should be of some value even in that capacity. I hope,
however, that the book, with its many illustrations and its record of visits to out-
of-the way places, may be acceptable to those who may desire to tour Britain
by rail or cycle as well as by motor car. Nor may it be entirely uninteresting to
those who may not expect to visit the country in person but desire to learn more
of it and its people. Although our journey did not follow the beaten paths of
British touring, and while a motor car affords the most satisfactory means of
reaching most of the places described, the great majority of these places are
accessible by rail, supplemented in some cases by a walk or drive. A glance at
the maps will indicate the large scope of country covered and the location of
most places especially mentioned in the text.
It was not a tour of cities by any means, but of the most delightful country in the
world, with its towns, villages, historic spots and solitary ruins. Whatever the
merits or demerits of the text, there can be no question concerning the pictures.
The color-plates were reproduced from original paintings by prominent artists,
some of the pictures having been exhibited in the London Royal Academy. The
thirty-two duogravures represent the very height of attainment in that process,
being reproductions of the most perfect English photographs obtainable.
T.D.M.
January 1908.
FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION
The first edition of BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS FROM A MOTOR
CAR was printed from type—instead of from electrotype plates—thus giving an
opportunity for additional care in the press work, with better results than with the
ordinary book printed from plates. The publishers thought also that some time
might elapse before a second edition would be called for. However, the
unexpected happened and in less than a year a new edition is required.
This has afforded opportunity for numerous additions and corrections—since it
was hardly possible that a book covering such a wide scope could be entirely
free from mistakes, though, fortunately, these were mainly minor ones. I have to
thank numerous readers for helpful suggestions.
That there is a distinct field for such a book is proven by the unexpectedly large
demand for the first edition. I hope that the new and revised edition may meet
with like favor.
T.D.M.March 1, 1909.
CONTENTS
Page
I A FEW GENERALITIES 1
II IN AND ABOUT LONDON 11
III A PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY 26
IV A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS 40
V THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW 58
VI LONDON TO LAND'S END 80
VII FROM CORNWALL TO SOUTH WALES 100
VIII THROUGH BEAUTIFUL WALES 115
IX CHESTER TO THE "HIELANDS" 137
X THROUGH HISTORIC SCOTLAND 156
XI FROM EDINBURGH TO YORKSHIRE 173
XII IN OLD YORKSHIRE 190
XIII A ZIG-ZAG TRIP FROM YORK TO NORWICH 206
XIV PETERBOROUGH, FOTHERINGHAY, ETC 221
XV THE CROMWELL COUNTRY; COLCHESTER 235
XVI THE HAUNTS OF MILTON AND PENN 247
XVII A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES 260
XVIII IN SURREY AND SUSSEX 275
XIX KNOLE HOUSE AND PENSHURST 290
XX SOME MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS 299
INDEX 311
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOUR PLATES
Page
OLD HALF-TIMBEREID HOUSES IN LEDBURY Frontispiece
OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM 1
HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE 16
THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD 48
SUNSET ON THE MOOR 56A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE 86
ROCKS OFF CORNWALL 96
NEAR LAND'S END 100
ON DARTMOOR 104
IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE 112
ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE 144
THE PATH BY THE LOCH 150
IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS 160
A SURREY LANDSCAPE 272
A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND 300
THE CALEDONIAN COAST 308
DUOGRAVURES
HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY 22
DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER 30
CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY 33
RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY 64
STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW 66
THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW 68
LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE 72
A GLADE IN NEW FOREST 88
ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY 108
DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER 114
RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES 120
KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE 152
TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND 162
DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN 164
TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND 180
BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND 184
OLD COTTAGE AT COCKINGTON 200
SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON 210
SOMERSBY CHURCH 212
ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON 216
A TYPICAL BYWAY 224
JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH 232
BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCHYARD, HARROW 246
MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES 250
DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD 256
RINGWOOD CHURCH 260
WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX 274ARUNDEL CASTLE 276
PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED 280
WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE 282
ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX 286
PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS 292
MAPS
MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES 310
MAP OF SCOTLAND 318
OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM.
From Water Color by G.F. Nicholls.
Pg 1 British Highways and Byways From a Motor CarI
A FEW GENERALITIES
Stratford-on-Avon stands first on the itinerary of nearly every American who
proposes to visit the historic shrines of Old England. Its associations with
Britain's immortal bard and with our own gentle Geoffrey Crayon are not
unfamiliar to the veriest layman, and no fewer than thirty thousand pilgrims,
largely from America, visit the delightful old town each year. And who ever
came away disappointed? Who, if impervious to the charm of the place, ever
dared to own it?
My first visit to Stratford-on-Avon was in the regulation fashion. Imprisoned in a
dusty and comfortless first-class apartment—first-class is an irony in England
when applied to railroad travel, a mere excuse for charging double—we shot
around the curves, the glorious Warwickshire landscapes fleeting past in a
haze or obscured at times by the drifting smoke. Our reveries were rudely
Pg 2 interrupted by the shriek of the English locomotive—like an exaggerated toy
whistle—and, with a mere glimpse of town and river, we were brought sharply
up to the unattractive station of Stratford-on-Avon. We were hustled by an
officious porter into an omnibus, which rattled through the streets until we
landed at the Sign of the Red Horse; and the manner of our departure was even
the same.
Just two years later, after an exhilarating drive of two or three hours over the
broad, well-kept highway winding through the parklike fields, fresh from May
showers, between Worcester and Stratford, our motor finally climbed a long hill,
and there, stretched out before us, lay the valley of the Avon. Far away we
caught the gleam of the immortal river, and rising from a group of splendid trees
we beheld Trinity Church—almost unique in England for its graceful
combination of massive tower and slender spire—the literary shrine of the
English-speaking world, the enchanted spot where Shakespeare sleeps. About
it were clustered the clean, tiled roofs of the charming town, set like a gem in
the Warwickshire landscape, famous as the most beautiful section of Old
England. Our car slowed to a stop, and only the subdued hum of the motor
broke the stillness as we saw Stratford-on-Avon from afar, conscious of a
beauty and sentiment that made our former visit seem commonplace indeed.
Pg 3 But I am not going to write of Stratford-on-Avon. Thousands have done this
before me—some of them of immortal fame. I shall not attempt to describe or
give details concerning a town that is probably visited each year by more
people than any other place of the size in the world. I am simply striving in a
few words to give the different impressions made