The route that eventually evolved itself is but roughly indicated in my Sketch Map, for I found it impossible, on a map of so small a scale, to trace all our devious wanderings, or to note more than a few of the many places visited. As to the illustrations, in a few cases where my photographs unfortunately proved failures I have ventured to replace them with my own drawings; for these—they are but mere brush notes—I crave a kind indulgence.
If I missed anything worth seeing on the way, I can only plead with Plato of old that "as it is the commendation of a good huntsman to find game in a wide wood, so it is no imputation if he hath not caught all."
J. J. HISSEY.
Trevin Towers,
Eastbourne.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | |
| PAGE | |
| Different methods of travel—The old coaching days—Maps versus guide-books—The fortune of the road—The South Downs—Hilly roads—The price of beauty—The sentimental traveller—A lonely farmstead—Oxen at work—A quaint old-world village | [1] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| A quiet valley—The importance of the unimportant—Moated and haunted houses—Romances in stone—A farmhouse holiday—A picture-book village—A matter of Fate—The tomb of Gibbon the historian—A gruesome happening—Upright burials—An interesting church—A curious epitaph | [17] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| An old coaching inn—The resurrection of the road—Far fromanywhere—The charm of the unexpected—A historicmilestone—"Mine host" of past days—Our port-winedrinking ancestors—The lure of the lane—Village life—Miniatureeffigy of a knight—The tomb of "the goodArchbishop Leighton"—A church clerk's story | [40] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| Dane Hill—Epitaphs—A wild bit of country—Ashdown Forest—Exploring—Theuse of maps—Curious inn signs—ATudor home—The Devil's door—A medieval priest andguest house—Old-fashioned flowers—An ancient interior—Curiouscarvings—Roads in the old times—The windowand hearth tax | [59] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| "Great-upon-Little"—The woods of Sussex—A maze of lanes—FrenshamPond—A holiday haunt—The legend of theshivering reeds—Rural inns—Roughing it(?)—WaverleyAbbey—The monks of old—The sites of abbeys—Quietcountry towns—Stocks and whipping-post—A curiousfont—"A haven of rest" | [80] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| "Mine ease in mine inn"—King John's Castle—Greywell—Countryodours—Hidden beauty-spots—The valley of theKennett—A remote spot—Our picturesque villages—Thecharm of ancientness—Solitude and genius—Coate—RichardJefferies' birthplace | [100] |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| Wootton Bassett—A quaint market-hall—Old towns—ARoman road—The spirit of the past—A pre-Elizabethangate-house—The Royal Agricultural College—Chat withan antiquary—Norman doorways—Second-hand bookcatalogues—Syde—Cotswold houses—Over the Cotswolds—Ata Jacobean inn | [121] |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| The Vale of Evesham—A stormy drive—An angler's inn—Abig fish—Dating from "the flood"!—Fishermen's tales—Thejoys of "the gentle craft"—Hotel visitors' books—A"quiet day"—Burford church and its monuments—Thegolden age of travel—A fine old half-timber inn—Ludlow—ASaxon doorway | [141] |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| Place names—Bell ringing for lost travellers—A Robber'sGrave and its story—Wild Wales—A picturesque interior—Thefascination of the moors—Machynlleth—A Royaland ancient house—Ten miles of beauty—Aberdovey—Trampsand their ways—The poetical tramp | [161] |
| CHAPTER X | |
| Mallwyd—Falling waters—Dinas Mawddwy—Amongst themoors and mountains—A wild drive—A farmer's logic—Afamous old inn—A fisherman's tale—A Roman inscribedstone—Brass to old Thomas Parr—A cruel sport—Wemand its story—A chat with "mine host"—Hawkestoneand its wonders | [182] |
| CHAPTER XI | |
| Red Castle—A stately ruin—Old houses and new owners—Thejoy of discovery—High Ercall and its story—Millsand millers—The life of a stone-breaker—Old folk-songs—HaughmondAbbey—Ancient tombs—A peaceful spot—Aplace for a pilgrimage | [203] |
| CHAPTER XII | |
| An angler's haunt—Ferries and stepping-stones—Curious oldstained-glass window—The ruins of Uriconium—WatlingStreet—The Wrekin—Richard Baxter's old home—ACabinet minister's story—A pretty village—BuildwasAbbey—Ironbridge—The "Methodists' Mecca" | [221] |
| CHAPTER XIII | |
| Madeley Court—Chat with a collier—The miner's rule of life—CharlesII. in hiding—The building of Boscobel—Thestory of a moated house—A stirring episode—A startlingdiscovery—A curious planetarium—A wishing-well—LilleshallAbbey—"The Westminster Abbey of Shropshire"—Afreak in architecture—Tong Castle—Churchclerk-hunting | [234] |
| CHAPTER XIV | |
| A wonderful collection of tombs—A tombstone inscription byShakespeare—A leper's door—Relics—Manufacturing theantique—Curiosity shops—The Golden Chapel—"TheGreat Bell of Tong"—White Ladies Nunnery—The graveof Dame Joan—Boscobel and its story—A tradition aboutThe "Royal Oak" | [253] |
| CHAPTER XV | |
| A town with two names—An amusing mistake—Abbot'sBromley and its quaint horn dance—Dr. Johnson doingpenance at Uttoxeter—Burton-on-Trent—The "HundredsAll" milestone—Indoor wind-dials—Stone-milled flour—Theold Globe Room at Banbury—Dick Turpin's pistol—Astrange find | [272] |
| CHAPTER XVI | |
| A gruesome carving—Architectural tit-bits—An ancient andhistoric hostelry—Chipping Norton—Wychwood—Aparson's story—"Timothying"—Shipton-under-Wychwood—Onthe Cotswolds—"The grey old town" ofBurford—Two old manor-houses—A new profession—Highworth—Churchrelics | [293] |
| CHAPTER XVII | |
| Little country towns—The romance of the ferry—"The Bear"at Woodstock—Curious conditions of tenure—Where theBlack Prince was born—Islip—The mystery of Joseph'sStone—An English Holland—Boarstall Tower—Theancient town of Brill—"Acres for Aeroplanes"—Stokenchurch—Aquaint hiring fair | [316] |
| CHAPTER XVIII | |
| An inn of the old-fashioned sort—A chat with "mine host"—Aweird experience—Ghost stories—An ancient rectoryhouse—A quaint interior—A haunted passage—Lost ina fog—The game of bowls—An old posting bill—Thesiege of Alton church—Ants as weather prophets | [334] |
| CHAPTER XIX | |
| The Meon Valley—Warnford—A hidden church—A house "amillion years old"!—A Saxon sun-dial—A ruined home—Corhamptonand its Saxon church—A modern"Naboth's Vineyard"—An out-of-the-world village—Acurious story—Quaint carvings and their legend—Achurch tower built by servants | [349] |
| CHAPTER XX | |
| A tramp's story—A relic of a famous sea-fight—A tame road—Inngardens—New landlords and old traditions—Chichestermarket-cross—A wind-swept land—"Dulland dreary Bognor"—A forgotten poet—Littlehampton—Countrysights and sounds—A lulling landscape | [363] |
| CHAPTER XXI | |
| Travel in the old days—Sequestered Sussex—Country homes—Amellow land—A gibbet post and its story—Chiddinglyand its church—The Pelham buckle—Wayside crosses—St.Dunstan's tongs and his anvil—A curious brass—IronStocks—Home again | [379] |
| INDEX | [397] |