Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India / Reissued for use in the United Kingdom

by Halford John Mackinder

Next we go into a residential street, where are the houses of the doctors and the lawyers of the little town. Some of the shopkeepers also dwell here, for when they can afford it they like to withdraw in the evening from their shops. These people are known in England as the middle classes, for they are neither very rich nor very poor. From among their children have come many who have helped to make England what she is.

5.
Town Church and Town Hall.

In the middle of the town there is the Church and also the Town Hall where meetings of the inhabitants are from time to time held for the management of local affairs. This slide, for instance, is taken in the little town of Cirencester. In front is the Town Hall, and in rear of it the Church with its tower.

6.
A Market.

These small towns could not exist if it were not for the country around them. On six days of the week they are silent and sleepy, but on the seventh they wake up and do much business. This day, known as Market Day, brings the farmers and their wives from all the country round to sell their produce and to buy in the shops their requirements for the week. Two or three times a year the market is specially a large one, and is known as a Fair. Here is a Fair in the little town of Burford. As you look down the street you can see the green country without. But the street is full of people, and there are stalls set up in it because there is no room for all the purchasers in the shops. Therefore it is, that these small towns are known as Market Towns.

7.
Yarmouth.

Some of the towns round the coast, however, are differently employed. They depend not so much upon weekly markets as upon their fisheries. Here is a scene at Yarmouth, with a number of old fishermen waiting with their baskets on the quay for the return of the boats.

8.
Newlyn Harbour.

9.
Landing Fish.

In the next slide we have the fishing fleet of Newlyn, lying sheltered in its harbour. And then we have a view of the boats on their return deeply laden with their catch. Since Britain consists of islands and has shores on all sides, the fisheries have much importance.