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24 chapters
THE SOMERSET COAST
THE SOMERSET COAST
The Portsmouth Road , and its Tributaries: To-day and in Days of Old. The Dover Road : Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. The Bath Road : History, Fashion, and Frivolity on an Old Highway. The Exeter Road : The Story of the West of England Highway. The Great North Road : The Old Mail Road to Scotland. Two Vols. The Norwich Road : An East Anglian Highway. The Holyhead Road : The Mail-Coach Road to Dublin. Two Vols. The Cambridge, Ely, and King’s Lynn Road : The Great Fenland Highway. The Newmarket, B
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY
On confiding to personal friends, journalistic paragraphists, and other Doubting Thomases, professional sceptics, chartered cynics and indifferent persons, the important and interesting literary news that a proposal was afloat to write a book on the Somerset Coast, the author was assured with an unanimity as remarkable as it was disconcerting, that there is no coast of Somerset. This singular geographical heresy, although totally unsupported by map-makers, who on all maps and charts show a very
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CHAPTER II THE RIVER AVON—CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE
CHAPTER II THE RIVER AVON—CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE
Bristol , whence one comes most conveniently to the coast of Somerset, is among the most fortunate of cities. It has a long and interesting history, both in the warlike and the commercial sorts, and its citizens have ever been public-spirited men, of generous impulses. (It is not really necessary for the discreet historian to go into the story of Bristol’s old-time thriving business of kidnapping and slave-trading, by which her merchants grew wealthy, and so we will say nothing about it, nor enl
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CHAPTER III ABBOT’S LEIGH TO CLEVEDON
CHAPTER III ABBOT’S LEIGH TO CLEVEDON
It is a hilly road that leads from Clifton Bridge to Abbot’s Leigh, through the noble Leigh Woods. Nightingale Valley lies down on the right; a beautiful seclusion, well-named from those songsters of early summer. Looking down upon it is the ancient camp of Borough Walls. An enterprising Land Company has acquired building rights here from Sir H. Miles, owner of these woods and of Leigh Court, and has recently built a number of charming detached residences, irregularly disposed among the glades;
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CHAPTER IV CLEVEDON—LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS: COLERIDGE
CHAPTER IV CLEVEDON—LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS: COLERIDGE
Clevedon is now entered by the modern suburban developments of Walton Park. Suburbs and light railways, and all the things they mean, do not come into the minds of those who have merely read of Clevedon and have not been there. Clevedon to these untravelled folk means Coleridge and Tennyson and Hallam, a certain “quiet cot,” a stately Court and a lone church on a hilltop, overlooking the Severn Sea. These are essentials; the rest is incidental. But when you come at last to Clevedon, you discover
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CHAPTER V CLEVEDON (continued)—LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS: TENNYSON
CHAPTER V CLEVEDON (continued)—LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS: TENNYSON
But Clevedon has more prominent literary associations than that just considered, and has a place unforgettable in poetry by reason of Tennyson’s “In Memoriam,” that lengthy poem written by the future laureate to the memory of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, who, born in 1811, died untimely, at the age of twenty-two, in September 1833. Arthur Hallam, a son of that Henry Hallam who is generally alluded to as “the historian”—although it would puzzle most of those airy, allusive folk to name offhan
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CHAPTER VI YATTON—CONGRESBURY—WICK ST. LAWRENCE
CHAPTER VI YATTON—CONGRESBURY—WICK ST. LAWRENCE
The main road from Clevedon to Kingston Seymour trends sharply inland, passing the little village of Kenn. Seaward the flat and featureless lands spread to an oozy shore; Kenn itself, an insignificant village, standing beside a sluggish runnel of the same name. From this place sprang the Ken family, which numbered among its members the celebrated Bishop of Bath and Wells, who owed his preferment from a subordinate position at Winchester to his having, while there, refused to give up his house fo
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CHAPTER VII WORSPRING PRIORY, KEWSTOKE
CHAPTER VII WORSPRING PRIORY, KEWSTOKE
The Augustinian Priory of Worspring, or Wospring, now called “Woodspring,” stands in a very secluded situation in this little-visited nook of the coast, projecting abruptly into the Bristol Channel north-west of Wick, and terminated in that direction by St. Thomas’s Head: a promontory which owes its name directly to the Priory itself, partly dedicated to the Blessed St. Thomas of Canterbury. The roads of this district are perhaps better to be termed lanes; and they are lanes of old Devonian char
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CHAPTER VIII WESTON-SUPER-MARE
CHAPTER VIII WESTON-SUPER-MARE
Weston-super-Mare has frequently been styled the “Western Brighton.” It matters little or nothing to those who invent these impossible parallels that the places thus compared with one another have nothing in common; and certainly Weston (for few there be who give it the longer name) is as little like Brighton as any place well can be. Weston fringes the bold curve of the shallow and sandy Weston or Uphill Bay, sandy inshore: a mile-broad expanse of mud at low water. Brighton is built on a straig
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CHAPTER IX WORLEBURY—WORLE
CHAPTER IX WORLEBURY—WORLE
All the ebullient modernity of Weston is looked down upon by the immemorially old, from that overhanging vantage-point, Worle Hill, where the ancient camp and fortress of Worlebury, dwelling-place and stronghold of many ancient peoples, shows traces of occupation by a race who flourished some four thousand years since. Worlebury passed through many hands, but the last people who sheltered there died in ruthless battle thirteen centuries ago. Worlebury rises to a height of 357 feet above Weston,
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CHAPTER X STEEP HOLM—FLAT HOLM—UPHILL—BREAN DOWN
CHAPTER X STEEP HOLM—FLAT HOLM—UPHILL—BREAN DOWN
If one might dare so greatly as to make one prominent comparison to the disadvantage of Brighton and the advantage of Weston, it would be this: that the seascape off Brighton beach is a mere empty waste of waters. What shipping there is to be occasionally seen is observed going far away out in the Channel; there so broad that it might be, for all the evidence there is to the contrary, the wide ocean itself. Here at Weston, on the other hand, where the Bristol Channel is so narrow that the coast
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CHAPTER XI BLEADON—BREAN—BRENT KNOLL
CHAPTER XI BLEADON—BREAN—BRENT KNOLL
To reach the village of Brean and to come in touch again with the coast on leaving Weston-super-Mare, Uphill village is passed, with a choice of roads then presenting itself: a short road with a penny toll to pay, or a slightly longer one, free. Either one of these brings you down into the flat lands under the scarred and quarried sides of Bleadon Hill, some 550 feet high. The handsome Perpendicular tower of Bleadon church groups beautifully with a fine fifteenth-century village cross. Thencefor
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CHAPTER XII BURNHAM—HIGHBRIDGE—BAWDRIP—“BATH BRICKS”—THE RIVER PARRET
CHAPTER XII BURNHAM—HIGHBRIDGE—BAWDRIP—“BATH BRICKS”—THE RIVER PARRET
The upstart capital of these levels is Burnham, but the supremacy is disputed by Highbridge. Now Burnham and Highbridge, although but a mile and a half apart, are places very different, socially and geographically. The first stands amid sands, by the seashore; the other is situated about the distance of a mile from the sea, on the muddy, sludgy banks of the river Brue. Burnham is a pleasure resort, of sorts, to which all the railways of Somerset and Dorset run frequent cheap excursions. It is th
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CHAPTER XIII BRIDGWATER—ADMIRAL BLAKE—THE MONMOUTH REBELLION
CHAPTER XIII BRIDGWATER—ADMIRAL BLAKE—THE MONMOUTH REBELLION
The ancient town of Bridgwater can now produce few evidences of its antiquity. The siege of 1645, various conflagrations, and the very considerable modern prosperity of the place have all been contributory causes toward this—to the tourist—somewhat desolating result. The town straddles on either side of the Parret, the hither side named appropriately and inevitably “Eastover.” It is the less considerable and important portion, the chief buildings of the place being on the left bank of the river.
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CHAPTER XIV CANNINGTON—THE QUANTOCKS—NETHER STOWEY, AND THE COLERIDGE CIRCLE
CHAPTER XIV CANNINGTON—THE QUANTOCKS—NETHER STOWEY, AND THE COLERIDGE CIRCLE
We leave Bridgwater by St. Mary’s church and the street called curiously, “Penel Orlieu,” whose name derives from a combination of Pynel Street and Orlewe Street, two thoroughfares that have long been conjoined. “Pynel,” or “Penelle,” was the name of a bygone Bridgwater family. Up Wembdon Hill, we come out of the town by its only residential suburb. Motor-cars have absolutely ruined this road out of Bridgwater, and on through Cannington and Nether Stowey, to Minehead and Porlock. It is a long su
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CHAPTER XV STEART—STOGURSEY—THE FOLK-SPEECH OF ZUMMERZET—GLATT-HUNTING AT KILVE—ST. AUDRIES
CHAPTER XV STEART—STOGURSEY—THE FOLK-SPEECH OF ZUMMERZET—GLATT-HUNTING AT KILVE—ST. AUDRIES
To touch the coast on the left-hand of the Parret estuary is to adventure into a little-visited land. But although the way is long—the distance is six miles to Steart Point—the road is sufficiently easy, being downhill from Cannington to Cannington Park, scene of the battle of Cynuit, and to Otterhampton; and then flat for the remaining four miles. At Otterhampton, a village of a few farms and cottages, the church contains a memorial to a former rector, the Rev. Dr. Jeffery, who held the living
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CHAPTER XVI WILLITON—ST. DECUMAN’S AND THE WYNDHAMS—WATCHET
CHAPTER XVI WILLITON—ST. DECUMAN’S AND THE WYNDHAMS—WATCHET
Leaving St. Audries, one also leaves the Quantocks behind, coming downhill into Williton, a place now by way of being a little town, with a railway station, a cattle market, a Union Workhouse, resembling the residence of some more than usually wealthy peer, a Petty Sessions Court, and a police station. Yet, with all these adjuncts of an up-to-date civilisation, Williton does not enjoy the distinction of being a real, original, independent parish. It stands in the parish of St. Decuman’s, a churc
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CHAPTER XVII CLEEVE ABBEY—OLD CLEEVE—BLUE ANCHOR
CHAPTER XVII CLEEVE ABBEY—OLD CLEEVE—BLUE ANCHOR
Two miles inland from Watchet lies the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary de Cleeve, or Clive; that is to say, St. Mary of the Cliff—the most notable ruin in these districts of Somerset. The church, the Abbey itself, has quite vanished, and its materials centuries ago passed into such commendably useful purposes as building-stones for neighbouring farmsteads, cow-bartons and linhays, while the many excellent roads of the neighbourhood doubtless owe their foundations to the same source. The very intere
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CHAPTER XVIII DUNSTER
CHAPTER XVIII DUNSTER
The approach to Dunster from Blue Anchor, and through the village of Carhampton, is a progress of pleasure. Turner has left a picture of Dunster from Blue Anchor, but it is not one of his successes, and the reality is far more romantic than his representation. You see before you the Castle of Dunster, on its hill, the eighteenth-century tower of Coneygore, on its own particular eminence, and the great Grabbist Hill, disposing themselves in new groupings as you advance, and realise that England h
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CHAPTER XIX MINEHEAD, NEW AND OLD—SELWORTHY—THE HORNER
CHAPTER XIX MINEHEAD, NEW AND OLD—SELWORTHY—THE HORNER
Scarce two miles distant from Dunster is Minehead, the hamlet of Alcombe lying between the two. Minehead, a group of three so-called “towns,” Quay Town, Lower Town, and Upper Town, occupies a position on the gently curving flat shore sheltered on the West by the bold, abrupt headland of North Hill, rising to a height of 843 feet. North Hill is so striking a feature in all views of the town, that one comes unconsciously to regard it as the only typical outstanding feature of the place. It is, so
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CHAPTER XX PORLOCK—BOSSINGTON—PORLOCK WEIR
CHAPTER XX PORLOCK—BOSSINGTON—PORLOCK WEIR
A sudden drop into the vale of Porlock tilts the traveller neck and crop into the village street. You realise, when come to the village, that it stands in a flat, low-lying space giving upon a distant bay; a bay distant just upon one mile. Once upon a time—a time so distant that history places no certain date against it—the village immediately faced the sea, and indeed took its name, which means “the enclosed port,” from the fact of the harbour running up to this point, deeply embayed between th
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CHAPTER XXI CULBONE AND ITS REVELS—WHORTLEBERRIES
CHAPTER XXI CULBONE AND ITS REVELS—WHORTLEBERRIES
The way parallel with the shore to Culbone lies at the back of the “Ship” inn at Porlock Weir, steeply up the wooded hillside that looks along down to the sea. The recluse situation of Culbone is shadowed forth, in company with those of two other lonely parishes of this neighbourhood, by the old local rhyme, often quoted: The reason for this old-time clerical distaste is found partly in these circumstances of solitude in which the opportunities for doing good must needs be small; but chiefly, pe
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CHAPTER XXII THE “LORNA DOONE COUNTRY”
CHAPTER XXII THE “LORNA DOONE COUNTRY”
We have here come into the very centre of what has in these later years become known as the “Lorna Doone Country”; the neighbourhood of Oare and the so-called “Doone Valley.” Oare lies in a profound valley, giving upon Exmoor, on the left hand, and to it we must needs go, for to write upon these parts of Somerset, where they march with Devon, and not to enter upon the subject of the Doones, would in these times be impossible, if the resultant book is to be at all representative. No one who trave
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CHAPTER XXIII OARE—MALMSMEAD—THE BADGWORTHY VALLEY—THE “DOONE VALLEY”—GLENTHORNE
CHAPTER XXIII OARE—MALMSMEAD—THE BADGWORTHY VALLEY—THE “DOONE VALLEY”—GLENTHORNE
And now, after having fully considered the evidence for and against the much-debated existence of these old reprobates and masterless men, let us advance into their country, and into that of the romantic Lorna, who was, of course, an adopted Doone merely. OARE CHURCH. The way to Oare, branching off to the left, plunges immediately down into the profound valley of the Oare Water. “Hookway Hill” is the name of this abominable road, bad enough in its own native vileness, but rendered worse by the s
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