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[Contents.] [Appendix.] [Index.] [List of Illustrations] (In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.) (etext transcriber's note) |
OVER FEN AND WOLD
A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MANOR-HOUSE.
BY
JAMES JOHN HISSEY
AUTHOR OF ‘A DRIVE THROUGH ENGLAND,’ ‘ON THE BOX SEAT,’
‘THROUGH TEN ENGLISH COUNTIES,’ ‘ON SOUTHERN ENGLISH ROADS,’ ETC.
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown road before me leading wherever I choose.
Whitman.
WITH FOURTEEN FULL PAGE (AND SOME SMALLER) ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE AUTHOR
AND A MAP OF THE ROUTE
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1898
All rights reserved
DEDICATED
TO THE MOST CHERISHED MEMORY OF
MY ONE-YEAR-OLD SON
WILLIAM AVERELL HISSEY
Darling, if Jesus rose,
Then thou in God’s sweet strength hast risen as well;
When o’er thy brow the solemn darkness fell,
It was but one moment of repose.
Thy love is mine—my deathless love to thee!
May God’s love guard us till all death is o’er,—
Till thine eyes meet my sorrowing eyes once more,—
Then guard us still, through all eternity!
A HOME OF TO-DAY.
PREFACE
The following pages contain the chronicle of a leisurely and most enjoyable driving tour through a portion of Eastern England little esteemed and almost wholly, if not quite, neglected by the average tourist, for Lincolnshire is generally deemed to be a flat land, mostly consisting of Fens, and with but small, or no scenic attractions. We, however, found Lincolnshire to be a country of hills as well as of Fens, and we were charmed with the scenery thereof, which is none the less beautiful because neither famed nor fashionable. Some day it may become both. Lincolnshire scenery awaits discovery! Hitherto the pleasure-traveller has not found it out, but that is his loss!
We set forth on our tour, like the renowned Dr. Syntax, “in search of the picturesque,” combined with holiday relaxation, and in neither respect did we suffer disappointment. Our tour was an unqualified success. A more delightfully independent, a more restful, or a more remunerative way of seeing the country than by driving through it, without haste or any precisely arranged plan, it is difficult to conceive, ensuring, as such an expedition does, perfect freedom, and a happy escape from the many minor worries of ordinary travel—the only thing absolutely needful for the driving tourist to do being to find an inn for the night.
Writing of the joys of road-travel in the pre-railway days George Eliot says, “You have not the best of it in all things, O youngsters! The elderly man has his enviable memories, and not the least of them is the memory of a long journey on the outside of a stage-coach.” The railway is most excellent for speed, “but the slow old-fashioned way of getting from one end of the country to the other is the better thing to have in the memory. The happy outside coach-passenger, seated on the box from the dawn to the gloaming, gathered enough stories of English life, enough aspects of earth and sky, to make episodes for a modern Odyssey.” And so did we seated in our own dog-cart, more to be envied even than the summer-time coach-passenger, for we had full command over our conveyance, so that we could stop on the way, loiter, or make haste, as the mood inclined.
Sir Edwin Arnold says, “This world we live in is becoming sadly monotonous, as it shrinks year by year to smaller and smaller apparent dimensions under the rapid movement provided by limited passenger trains and swift ocean steamships.” Well, by driving one enlarges the apparent size of the world, for, as John Burrough puts it, “When you get into a railway carriage you want a continent, but the man in his carriage requires only a county.” Very true, moreover the man who steams round the world may see less than the man who merely drives round about an English county: the former is simply conveyed, the latter travels—a distinction with a vast difference!
In conclusion, I have only to express the hope that the illustrations herewith, engraved on wood from my sketches by Mr. George Pearson (to whom I tender my thanks for the pains he has taken in their reproduction), may lend an added interest to this unvarnished record of a most delightful and health-giving holiday.
J. J. HISSEY.
SOMERSBY CHURCH AND CROSS.
CONTENTS
| [CHAPTER I] | |
|---|---|
| PAGE | |
| The planning of our tour—Ready for the road—The start—Oneof Dick Turpin’s haunts—Barnet—A curious innsign—In the coaching days—Travellers, new and old—Aforgotten Spa—An ancient map | [1] |
| [CHAPTER II] | |
| Memorial of a great battle—An ancient fire-cresset—Freefeasting!—Country quiet—Travellers’ Tales—Hatfield—AnElizabethan architect—An author’s tomb—Day-dreaming—Mysteriousroadside monuments—Great North Roadversus Great Northern Railway—Stevenage—Chats bythe way—Field life—Nature as a painter—Changedtimes | [21] |
| [CHAPTER III] | |
| A gipsy encampment—A puzzling matter—Farming andfarmers, past and present—An ancient market-town—Apicturesque bit of old-world architecture—Gleaners—Time’schanges—A house in two counties—A waysideinn—The commercial value of the picturesque | [41] |
| [CHAPTER IV] | |
| Biggleswade—“Instituted” or “intruded”!—A poetical will—Theriver Ivel—A day to be remembered—The artof seeing—Misquotations—The striving after beauty—Storiesin stone—An ancient muniment chest—An angler’shaunt—The town bridge—The pronunciation of names—St.Neots | [58] |
| [CHAPTER V] | |
| The charm of small towns—The Ouse—A pleasant land—BuckdenPalace—A joke in stone—The birthplace ofSamuel Pepys—Buried treasure—Huntingdon—An old-timeinterior—A famous coaching inn—St. Ives—Achurch steeple blown down!—A quaint and ancient bridge—Ariverside ramble—Cowper’s country—Two narrowescapes | [73] |
| [CHAPTER VI] | |
| Cromwell’s birthplace—Records of the past—Early photographs—Abreezy day—Home-brewed ale—Americans onEnglish scenery—Alconbury Hill—The plains of Cambridgeshire—Thesilence of Nature—Stilton—A decayedcoaching town—A medieval hostelry—A big sign-board—Old-worldtraditions—Miles from anywhere | [97] |
| [CHAPTER VII] | |
| Norman Cross—A Norman-French inscription—A re-headedstatue—The friendliness of the road—The art of beingdelightful—The turnpike roads in their glory—Bits forthe curious—A story of the stocks—“Wansford in England”—Romanceand reality—The glamour of art—“Thefinest street between London and Edinburgh”—Ancient“Callises”—A historic inn—Windows that have tales totell | [118] |
| [CHAPTER VIII] | |
| A picturesque ruin—Round about Stamford—Browne’s “Callis”—Achat with an antiquary—A quaint interior—“Bull-running”—Arelic of a destroyed college—An old Carmelitegateway—A freak of Nature—Where Charles I.last slept as a free man—A storied ceiling—A gleaner’sbell—St. Leonard’s Priory—Tennyson’s county—In timeof vexation—A flood—Hiding-holes—Lost!—Memorialsof the past | [139] |
| [CHAPTER IX] | |
| A land of dykes—Fenland rivers—Crowland Abbey—A uniquetriangular bridge—Antiquaries differ—A mysterious statue—Amedieval rhyme—A wayside inscription—Thescenery of the Fens—Light-hearted travellers—Cowbit—Adesolate spot—An adventure on the road—A Dutch-liketown | [161] |
| [CHAPTER X] | |
| Spalding—“Ye Olde White Horse Inne”—An ancient halland quaint garden—Epitaph-hunting—A signboard joke—Acrossthe Fens—A strange world—Storm and sunshine—Anawkward predicament—Bourn—Birthplace ofHereward the Wake—A medieval railway station!—Tombstoneverses | [186] |
| [CHAPTER XI] | |
| A pleasant road—Memories—Shortening of names—Health-drinking—AMiller and his mill—A rail-less town—Changedtimes and changed ways—An Elizabethan churchclock—A curious coincidence—Old superstitions—Satirein carving—“The Monks of Old” | [204] |
| [CHAPTER XII] | |
| A civil tramp—Country hospitality—Sleaford—A Lincolnshiresaying—A sixteenth-century vicarage—Struck by lightning—“TheQueen of Villages”—A sculptured anachronism—Swineshead—Astrange legend—Local proverbs—Chatwith a “commercial”—A mission of destruction—Thecurfew—Lost our way—Out of the beaten track—A grotesquefigure and mysterious legend—Puzzling inscriptions—Theend of a long day | [226] |
| [CHAPTER XIII] | |
| The Fenland capital—Mother and daughter towns—“Bostonstump”—One church built over another—The companyat our inn—A desultory ramble—An ancient prison—ThePilgrim Fathers—The banks of the Witham—HusseyTower—An English Arcadia—Kyme Castle—Benington—Acountry of many churches—Wrangle—In search of aghost—A remote village—Gargoyles—The grotesque inart | [248] |
| [CHAPTER XIV] | |
| Wind-blown trees—Marshlands—September weather—Wainfleet—Anancient school—The scent of the sea—Therehabilitation of the old-fashioned ghost—A Lincolnshiremystery—A vain search—Too much alike—Delightfullyindefinite—Halton Holgate—In quest of a haunted house | [268] |
| [CHAPTER XV] | |
| In a haunted house—A strange story—A ghost described!—Anoffer declined—Market-day in a market-town—A picturesquecrowd—Tombs of ancient warriors—An oldtradition—Popular errors—A chat by the way—Themodern Puritan—A forgotten battle-ground—At the signof the “Bull” | [288] |
| [CHAPTER XVI] | |
| Six hilly miles—A vision for a pilgrim—The scenery of theWolds—Poets’ dreams versus realities—Tennyson’s brook—Somersby—Anout-of-the-world spot—Tennyson-land—Ahistoric home—A unique relic of the past—An ancientmoated grange—Traditions | [309] |
| [CHAPTER XVII] | |
| A decayed fane—Birds in church—An old manorial hall—Curiouscreations of the carver’s brain—The grotesque inexcelsis—The old formal garden—Sketching from memory—Thebeauty of the Wolds—Lovely Lincolnshire!—Adviceheeded!—A great character—A headless horseman—Extremesmeet—“All’s well that ends well” | [329] |
| [CHAPTER XVIII] | |
| A friend in a strange land—Horse sold in a church—A sportof the past—Racing the moon!—Facts for the curious—TheChampions of England—Scrivelsby Court—Brushmagic—Coronation cups—A unique privilege—A blunderinginscription—A headless body—Nine miles of beauty—Wragby—AtLincoln—Guides and guide-books—Anawkward predicament | [352] |
| [CHAPTER XIX] | |
| “A precious piece of architecture”—Guest at an inn—Apleasant city—Unexpected kindness—A medieval lavatory—Anhonest lawyer!—The cost of obliging a stranger—Branston—Alost cyclist—In search of a husband!—DunstonPillar—An architectural puzzle—A Lincolnshirespa—Exploring—An ancient chrismatory | [372] |
| [CHAPTER XX] | |
| A long discourse—The origin of a coat-of-arms—An Englishserf—A witch-stone—Lincolnshire folk-lore—A collar forlunatics—St. Mary’s thistle—A notable robbery—Anarchitectural gem—Coningsby—Tattershall church andcastle—Lowland and upland—“Beckingham-behind-the-Times”—OldLincolnshire folk | [395] |
| [CHAPTER XXI] | |
| A cross-country road—A famous hill—Another medieval inn—“TheDrunken Sermon”—Bottesford—Staunton Hall—Oldfamily deeds—A chained library—Woolsthorpemanor-house—A great inventor!—Melton Mowbray—Oakham—Aquaint old manorial custom—RockinghamCastle—Kirby | [415] |
| [CHAPTER XXII] | |
| A well-preserved relic—An old English home—Authoritiesdiffer—Rooms on the top of a Church tower—A medieval-lookingtown—A Saxon tower—Bedford—Bunyan’s birthplace—Luton—Theend of the journey | [436] |
| [Appendix] | [443] |
| [Index] | [445] |
ILLUSTRATIONS
OLD BRASS CROMWELL CLOCK.
ST. IVES BRIDGE.