What to See in England Part 9

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 7s. 2d. 4s. 6d. 3s. 7d.

Return 12s. 6d. 8s. 0d. 6s. 8d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Old Swan Hotel," "The Hindhead Beacon," "White Horn Hotel," Haslemere. "Hindhead Hotel," "Royal Anchor Hotel," Liphook, etc.

The Hindhead district, not long ago one of the wildest in the home counties, has of late been much encroached upon by the erection of modern villas and houses. A few years back there was scarcely a vestige of human habitation to be seen from the road skirting the "Devil's Punchbowl," or the descent on the other side, but since the time Professor Tyndall built his house there, the aspect of the country has been in places considerably changed.

From Haslemere Station one may take a direct road to the Hindhead summit, but the most interesting route is through Shottermill, about a mile distant (see p. 64). From here an easy walk takes one into the main Portsmouth road close to the Seven Thorns Inn, where there is a long ascent to the summit of Hindhead, with its inn, the Royal Huts Hotel.

Close by is the village of Grayshott, now fast growing into a place of considerable residential importance. Following the road Londonwards, one arrives in a few hundred yards at the very highest point of the road over Hindhead, after which it drops gently, skirting the magnificent hollow known as the "Devil's Punchbowl." On the left-hand side, in the loneliest part of the road, is the gruesome tombstone which marks the spot where an unknown sailor was murdered and robbed while tramping from Portsmouth to London. This stone and its surroundings, it will be remembered, are mentioned in _Nicholas Nickleby_, in the account of the walk of Nicholas and Smike from London to Portsmouth. Close by, on the opposite side of the road, there is a rough sandy track--once the old coach road--which leads up to the stone cross on the extreme summit of the Hindhead--900 feet above sea-level--where the murderers of the sailor were executed, and hung in chains. The view from this point, aptly named Gibbet Hill, is quite magnificent for Surrey.

On the northern slope of Blackdown--the high ridge of hills towards the south-east--is Aldworth House, where Tennyson resided in his latter years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD.

Near the highest point, where it crosses Hindhead.]

SHOTTERMILL

THE HOME OF GEORGE ELIOT

=How to get there.=--Train from Waterloo Station. L. and S.W.

Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Haslemere (1 mile by road from Shottermill village).

=Distance from London.=--43 miles.

=Average Time.=--From 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 7s. 2d. 4s. 6d. 3s. 7d.

Return 12s. 6d. 8s. 0d. 6s. 8d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--At Haslemere--"White Horse Hotel,"

"Swan Hotel," etc. "Oakland's Mansion Private Hotel."

This lovely little village, on the slopes of Hindhead, with its breezy uplands, its hills covered with Scotch firs and its undulating tracts of land, so beautiful in the autumn with the glorious purple heather, was much beloved by George Eliot, known to the whole world as the writer of _Adam Bede_ and the _Mill on the Floss_. In 1871, while _Middlemarch_ was appearing in parts, George Eliot, who as Mr. Lewes said, "never seemed at home except under a broad sweep of sky," spent part of the spring and summer at Brookbank,--an old-fashioned gabled cottage in the village (close to the church) with delightful lattice-paned windows,--belonging to a Mrs. Gilchrist. At this time George Eliot was in a delicate state of health and scarcely equal to finishing her new story. One cannot call it a novel, for it had no plot. It was simply a remarkable picture of provincial life in the first half of the nineteenth century. George Eliot greatly enjoyed her quiet life at Shottermill, although many of her friends thought it incomprehensible that she could endure such a secluded life. One can scarcely read her graphic description of the sweet beauty of a Warwickshire lane, with its hedgerows all radiant in summer beauty, without feeling how much this remarkable woman loved it all, and in some degree one may understand how restful were the village surroundings. They led a most uneventful life, but occasionally would pay a visit to Tennyson, whose house at Aldworth was only 3 miles off. George Eliot rarely went out in the daytime, but sometimes she would go to see some cottagers and have a chat with them.

A farmer's wife was greatly astonished at her knowledge of b.u.t.ter-making, and of the growth of fruit and vegetables, little imagining that in her early days, after her mother's death, the great auth.o.r.ess had managed the dairy in her own home at Griff House.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BROOKBANK.

George Eliot's cottage at Shottermill, near Haslemere.]

PENN'S CHAPEL AT THAKEHAM, SUSs.e.x

=How to get there.=--Train from Victoria or London Bridge. L.B.

and S.C. Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Billingshurst (3 miles from Thakeham).

=Distance from London.=--44 miles.

=Average Time.=--1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 7s. 2d. 4s. 8d. 3s. 6-1/2d.

Return 11s. 5d. 8s. 2d. 7s. 1d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--None at Thakeham. "King's Arms"

at Billingshurst.

The little chapel where the great William Penn used to worship when he lived at the old mansion of Warminghurst is so entirely buried in the country that one must make careful inquiries in order to find one's way to it from Billingshurst. When one reaches the cottage at last, one finds a gate right across the road, for beyond it the lane gradually deteriorates to a mere gra.s.sy track between hedges. Locally this Thakeham meeting-house is known as the "Blue Idol," a name not altogether explained when one discovers that for a long period the interior of the chapel had blue-washed walls.

As one may see from the drawing given here, it is an exceedingly quaint old building, the portion shown being used as a meeting-house, the other half being a cottage occupied by the family who act as caretakers. The cream-washed walls are broken up by the richly mellowed half-timber work, and above is the roof of grey green Horsham slabs splashed over with bright orange lichen.

Inside there are the very old oaken settles as well as less ancient ones. The timber framing shows on the walls and roof, here, as on the exterior, and the general quaintness of the place is enhanced by the old stone-flagged floor. Of William Penn's house at Warminghurst no traces whatever remain, but this only helps to increase the interest in the little chapel which has remained entirely unaltered for over two centuries. Penn, who bought the house in 1682, probably chose its site on account of its remoteness, for those were the days when their meetings were at any moment liable to interruption--when the members of the congregation met together knowing well that discovery meant imprisonment. In the quaint little meeting-house it is easy to feel the spirit of the Quakers, and one may almost imagine that one hears outside the rumble of the wheels of the heavy ox-waggon in which Penn drove over from Warminghurst Place.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OLD CHAPEL AT THAKEHAM NEAR BILLINGSHURST.

Where William Penn used to worship.]

CHAWTON THE HOME OF JANE AUSTEN

=How to get there.=--Train from Waterloo. L. and S.W. Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Alton (1 mile from Chawton).

=Distance from London.=--46-1/2 miles.

=Average Time.=--Varies between 1-3/4 to 2 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 7s. 9d. 5s. 0d. 3s. 10-1/2d.

Return 13s. 6d. 8s. 8d. 7s. 9d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--At Alton--"Swan Hotel," "Crown Hotel," etc.

Situated about a mile from Alton Station, on the main line of the South-Western Railway, is the little village of Chawton, the residence of Jane Austen at the time when she was producing her best literary work. A walk along the main Winchester road brings one to the charming old-world place, and, keeping on past the thatched cottages of the village, one reaches a small brick house on the right-hand side, near a pond, just before the road divides for Winchester and Gosport. This building, which is now tenanted by a workman's club, was Chawton Cottage, where Jane Austen spent some of the brightest days of her life, and wrote her most successful novels, books which are more highly appreciated at the present day than they were during the lifetime of the auth.o.r.ess.

Her father was rector of Steventon, another Hampshire village, at which place his daughter was born in 1775, and where her early days were spent. Jane Austen's novels are remarkable for the truthfulness and charm with which they reproduce the everyday life of the upper middle cla.s.ses in England in her time, and for delicate and yet distinct insight into every variety of the human character. Miss Austen's first four novels, _Sense and Sensibility_, _Pride and Prejudice_, _Mansfield Park_, and _Emma_, were published anonymously.

A short distance along the Gosport road is Chawton Park, a remarkably fine Elizabethan mansion, occupied in Miss Austen's time by Edward Knight, the lord of the manor. This country seat, which is not accessible to visitors, was most probably the original of _Mansfield Park_, and in the little church close by are several monuments to the Knight family. Miss Austen died at Winchester on July 24, 1817, and is buried in the cathedral. The bra.s.s to her memory is in the north aisle.

Within easy walking distance is Gilbert White's home at Selborne, which is treated under a separate heading (p. 70).

[Ill.u.s.tration: JANE AUSTEN'S COTTAGE AT CHAWTON.

_Sense and Sensibility_, _Pride and Prejudice_, and _Northanger Abbey_ were revised and partly rewritten here; and _Emma_, _Mansfield Park_, and _Persuasion_ were entirely produced at the cottage.]

SELBORNE