Thomas D. Murphy - British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car

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[Illustration: OLD HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES IN LEDBURY.

From Water Color by B. McGuinness.]

British Highways
and Byways
From a Motor Car

BEING A RECORD OF A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TOUR IN ENGLAND, WALES AND
SCOTLAND

BY

Thos. D. Murphy

With Sixteen Illustrations in Colour and Thirty-two Duogravures From
Photographs; Also Two Descriptive Maps.

BOSTON
L.C. Page & Company
MDCCCCVIII

_Copyright_, 1908
BY L.C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)

_All rights reserved_

A FOREWORD

In this chronicle of a summer's motoring in Britain I have not attempted
a guide-book in any sense, yet the maps, together with the comments on
highways, towns, and country, should be of some value even in that
capacity. I hope, however, that the book, with its many illustrations
and its record of visits to out-of-the way places, may be acceptable to
those who may desire to tour Britain by rail or cycle as well as by
motor car. Nor may it be entirely uninteresting to those who may not
expect to visit the country in person but desire to learn more of it and
its people. Although our journey did not follow the beaten paths of
British touring, and while a motor car affords the most satisfactory
means of reaching most of the places described, the great majority of
these places are accessible by rail, supplemented in some cases by a
walk or drive. A glance at the maps will indicate the large scope of
country covered and the location of most places especially mentioned in
the text.

It was not a tour of cities by any means, but of the most delightful
country in the world, with its towns, villages, historic spots and
solitary ruins. Whatever the merits or demerits of the text, there can
be no question concerning the pictures. The color-plates were reproduced
from original paintings by prominent artists, some of the pictures
having been exhibited in the London Royal Academy. The thirty-two
duogravures represent the very height of attainment in that process,
being reproductions of the most perfect English photographs obtainable.

T.D.M.
January 1908.

FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION

The first edition of BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS FROM A MOTOR CAR was
printed from type--instead of from electrotype plates--thus giving an
opportunity for additional care in the press work, with better results
than with the ordinary book printed from plates. The publishers thought
also that some time might elapse before a second edition would be called
for. However, the unexpected happened and in less than a year a new
edition is required.

This has afforded opportunity for numerous additions and
corrections--since it was hardly possible that a book covering such a
wide scope could be entirely free from mistakes, though, fortunately,
these were mainly minor ones. I have to thank numerous readers for
helpful suggestions.

That there is a distinct field for such a book is proven by the
unexpectedly large demand for the first edition. I hope that the new and
revised edition may meet with like favor.

T.D.M.
March 1, 1909.

CONTENTS

Page
I A FEW GENERALITIES 1
II IN AND ABOUT LONDON 11
III A PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY 26
IV A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS 40
V THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW 58
VI LONDON TO LAND'S END 80
VII FROM CORNWALL TO SOUTH WALES 100
VIII THROUGH BEAUTIFUL WALES 115
IX CHESTER TO THE "HIELANDS" 137
X THROUGH HISTORIC SCOTLAND 156
XI FROM EDINBURGH TO YORKSHIRE 173
XII IN OLD YORKSHIRE 190
XIII A ZIG-ZAG TRIP FROM YORK TO NORWICH 206
XIV PETERBOROUGH, FOTHERINGHAY, ETC 221
XV THE CROMWELL COUNTRY; COLCHESTER 235
XVI THE HAUNTS OF MILTON AND PENN 247
XVII A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES 260
XVIII IN SURREY AND SUSSEX 275
XIX KNOLE HOUSE AND PENSHURST 290
XX SOME MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS 299
INDEX 311

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOUR PLATES

Page
OLD HALF-TIMBEREID HOUSES IN LEDBURY Frontispiece
OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM 1
HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE 16
THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD 48
SUNSET ON THE MOOR 56
A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE 86
ROCKS OFF CORNWALL 96
NEAR LAND'S END 100
ON DARTMOOR 104
IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE 112
ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE 144
THE PATH BY THE LOCH 150
IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS 160
A SURREY LANDSCAPE 272
A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND 300
THE CALEDONIAN COAST 308

DUOGRAVURES

HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY 22
DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER 30
CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY 33
RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY 64
STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW 66
THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW 68
LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE 72
A GLADE IN NEW FOREST 88
ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY 108
DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER 114
RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES 120
KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE 152
TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND 162
DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN 164
TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND 180
BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND 184
OLD COTTAGE AT COCKINGTON 200
SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON 210
SOMERSBY CHURCH 212
ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON 216
A TYPICAL BYWAY 224
JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH 232
BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCHYARD, HARROW 246
MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES 250
DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD 256
RINGWOOD CHURCH 260
WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX 274
ARUNDEL CASTLE 276
PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED 280
WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE 282
ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX 286
PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS 292

MAPS

MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES 310
MAP OF SCOTLAND 318

[Illustration: OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM.

From Water Color by G.F. Nicholls.]

British Highways and Byways From a Motor Car

I

A FEW GENERALITIES

Stratford-on-Avon stands first on the itinerary of nearly every American
who proposes to visit the historic shrines of Old England. Its
associations with Britain's immortal bard and with our own gentle
Geoffrey Crayon are not unfamiliar to the veriest layman, and no fewer
than thirty thousand pilgrims, largely from America, visit the
delightful old town each year. And who ever came away disappointed? Who,
if impervious to the charm of the place, ever dared to own it?

My first visit to Stratford-on-Avon was in the regulation fashion.
Imprisoned in a dusty and comfortless first-class apartment--first-class
is an irony in England when applied to railroad travel, a mere excuse
for charging double--we shot around the curves, the glorious
Warwickshire landscapes fleeting past in a haze or obscured at times by
the drifting smoke. Our reveries were rudely interrupted by the shriek
of the English locomotive--like an exaggerated toy whistle--and, with a
mere glimpse of town and river, we were brought sharply up to the
unattractive station of Stratford-on-Avon. We were hustled by an
officious porter into an omnibus, which rattled through the streets
until we landed at the Sign of the Red Horse; and the manner of our
departure was even the same.

Just two years later, after an exhilarating drive of two or three hours
over the broad, well-kept highway winding through the parklike fields,
fresh from May showers, between Worcester and Stratford, our motor
finally climbed a long hill, and there, stretched out before us, lay the
valley of the Avon. Far away we caught the gleam of the immortal river,
and rising from a group of splendid trees we beheld Trinity
Church--almost unique in England for its graceful combination of massive
tower and slender spire--the literary shrine of the English-speaking
world, the enchanted spot where Shakespeare sleeps. About it were
clustered the clean, tiled roofs of the charming town, set like a gem in
the Warwickshire landscape, famous as the most beautiful section of Old
England. Our car slowed to a stop, and only the subdued hum of the motor
broke the stillness as we saw Stratford-on-Avon from afar, conscious of
a beauty and sentiment that made our former visit seem commonplace
indeed.

But I am not going to write of Stratford-on-Avon. Thousands have done
this before me--some of them of immortal fame. I shall not attempt to
describe or give details concerning a town that is probably visited each
year by more people than any other place of the size in the world. I am
simply striving in a few words to give the different impressions made
upon the same party who visited the town twice in a comparatively short
period, the first time by railway train and the last by motor car. If I
have anything to say of Stratford, it will come in due sequence in my
story.

There are three ways in which a tourist may obtain a good idea of
Britain during a summer's vacation of three or four months. He may cover
most places of interest after the old manner, by railway train. This
will have to be supplemented by many and expensive carriage drives if he
wishes to see the most beautiful country and many of the most
interesting places. As Professor Goldwin Smith says, "Railways in
England do not follow the lines of beauty in very many cases," and the
opportunity afforded of really seeing England from a railway car window
is poor indeed. The tourist must keep a constant eye on the time-tables,
and in many of the more retired places he will have to spend a day when
an hour would suffice quite as well could he get away. If he travels
first-class, it is quite expensive, and the only advantage secured is
that he generally has a compartment to himself, the difference in
accommodations between first and third-class on the longer distance
trains being insignificant. But if he travels third-class, he very often
finds himself crowded into a small compartment with people in whom, to
say the least, he has nothing in common. One seldom gets the real
sentiment and beauty of a place in approaching it by railway. I am
speaking, of course, of the tourist who endeavors to crowd as much as he
can into a comparatively short time. To the one who remains several days
in a place, railroad traveling is less objectionable. My remarks
concerning railroad travel in England are made merely from the point of
comparison with a pleasure journey by motor, and having covered the
greater part of the country in both ways, I am qualified to some extent
to speak from experience.

For a young man or party of young men who are traveling through Britain
on a summer's vacation, the bicycle affords an excellent and expeditious
method of getting over the country, and offers nearly all the advantages
of the motor car, provided the rider is vigorous and expert enough to do
the wheeling without fatigue. The motor cycle is still better from this
point of view, and many thousands of them are in use on English roads,
while cyclists may be counted by the tens of thousands. But the bicycle
is out of the question for an extended tour by a party which includes
ladies. The amount of impedimenta which must be carried along, and the
many long hills which are encountered on the English roads, will put the
cycle out of the question in such cases.

In the motor car, we have the most modern and thorough means of
traversing the highways and byways of Britain in the limits of a single
summer, and it is my purpose in this book, with little pretensions to
literary style, to show how satisfactorily this may be done by a mere
layman. To the man who drives his own car and who at the outstart knows
very little about the English roads and towns, I wish to undertake to
show how in a trip of five thousand miles, occupying about fifty days,
actual traveling time, I covered much of the most beautiful country in
England and Scotland and visited a large proportion of the most
interesting and historic places in the Kingdom. I think it can be
clearly demonstrated that this method of touring will give opportunities
for enjoyment and for gaining actual knowledge of the people and country
that can hardly be attained in any other way.

The motor car affords expeditious and reasonably sure means of getting
over the country--always ready when you are ready, subservient to your
whim to visit some inaccessible old ruin, flying over the broad main
highways or winding more cautiously in the unfrequented country
byways--and is, withal, a method of locomotion to which the English
people have become tolerant if not positively friendly. Further, I am
sure it will be welcome news to many that the expense of such a trip,
under ordinary conditions, is not at all exorbitant or out of the reach
of the average well-to-do citizen.

Those who have traveled for long distances on American roads can have no
conception whatever of the delights of motor traveling on the British
highways. I think there are more bad roads in the average county, taking
the States throughout, than there are in all of the United Kingdom, and
the number of defective bridges in any county outside of the immediate
precincts of a few cities, would undoubtedly be many times greater than
in the whole of Great Britain. I am speaking, of course, of the more
traveled highways and country byways. There are roads leading into the
hilly sections that would not be practicable for motors at all, but,
fortunately, these are the very roads over which no one would care to
go. While the gradients are generally easier than in the States, there
are in many places sharp hills where the car must be kept well under
control. But the beauty of it is that in Britain one has the means of
being thoroughly warned in advance of the road conditions which he must
encounter.

The maps are perfect to the smallest detail and drawn to a large scale,
showing the relative importance of all the roads; and upon them are
plainly marked the hills that are styled "dangerous." These maps were
prepared for cyclists, and many of the hills seem insignificant to a
powerful motor. However, the warning is none the less valuable, for
often other conditions requiring caution prevail, such as a dangerous
turn on a hill or a sharp descent into a village street. Then there is a
set of books, four in number, published by an Edinburgh house and
illustrated by profile plans, covering about thirty thousand miles of
road in England and Scotland. These show the exact gradients and supply
information in regard to the surface of the roads and their general
characteristics. Besides this, the "objects of interest" scattered along
any particular piece of road are given in brief--information at once so
desirable and complete as to be a revelation to an American. There are
sign-boards at nearly every crossing; only in some of the more retired
districts did we find the crossroads unmarked. With such advantages as
these, it is easily seen that a tour of Britain by a comparative
stranger is not difficult; that a chauffeur or a guide posted on the
roads is not at all necessary. The average tourist, with the exercise of
ordinary intelligence and a little patience, can get about any part of
the country without difficulty. One of the greatest troubles we found
was to strike the right road in leaving a town of considerable size, but
this was overcome by the extreme willingness of any policeman or native
to give complete information--often so much in detail as to be rather
embarrassing. The hundreds of people from whom we sought assistance in
regard to the roads were without exception most cheerful and willing
compliants, and in many places people who appeared to be substantial
citizens volunteered information when they saw us stop at the town
crossing to consult our maps. In getting about the country, little
difficulty or confusion will be experienced.

Generally speaking, the hotel accommodations in the provincial towns
throughout England and Scotland are surprisingly good. Of course there
is a spice of adventure in stopping occasionally at one of the small
wayside inns or at one of the old hostelries more famous for its
associations than for comfort, but to one who demands first-class
service and accommodations, a little of this will go a long way.
Generally it can be so planned that towns with strictly good hotel
accommodations can be reached for the night. Occasionally an unusually
comfortable and well-ordered hotel will tempt the motorist to tarry a
day or two and possibly to make excursions in the vicinity. Such hotels
we found at Chester and York, for instance. The country hotel-keeper in
Britain is waking up to the importance of motor travel. Already most of
the hotels were prepared to take care of this class of tourists, and in
many others improvements were under way. It is safe to say that in the
course of two or three years, at the farthest, there will be little to
be desired in the direction of good accommodations in the better towns.
Rates at these hotels are not low by any means--at least for the
motorist. It is generally assumed that a man who is in possession of an
automobile is able to pay his bills, and charges and fees are exacted in
accordance with this idea. There is, of course, a wide variation in this
particular, and taking it right through, the rates at the best hotels
would not be called exorbitant. The Motor Club of Great Britain and
Ireland have many especially designated hotels where the members of this
association are given a discount. These are not in every case the best
in the town, and we generally found Baedeker's Hand Book the most
reliable guide as to the relative merits of the hotels. It is a poorly
appointed hotel that does not now have a garage of some sort, and in
many cases, necessary supplies are available. Some even go so far as to
charge the storage batteries, or "accumulators," as they are always
called in Britain, and to afford facilities for the motorist to make
repairs.

It goes without saying that a motor tour should be planned in advance
as carefully as possible. If one starts out in a haphazard way, it takes
him a long time to find his bearings, and much valuable time is lost.
Before crossing the water, it would be well to become posted as
thoroughly as possible on what one desires to see and to gain a general
idea of the road from the maps. Another valuable adjunct will be a
membership in the A.C.A. or a letter from the American motor
associations, with an introduction to the Secretary of the Motor Union
of Great Britain and Ireland. In this manner can be secured much
valuable information as to the main traveled routes; but after all, if
the tourist is going to get the most out of his trip, he will have to
come down to a careful study of the country and depend partly on the
guide-books but more upon his own knowledge of the historical and
literary landmarks throughout the Kingdom.

II

IN AND ABOUT LONDON

London occurs to the average tourist as the center from which his
travels in the Kingdom will radiate, and this idea, from many points of
view, is logically correct. Around the city cluster innumerable literary
and historic associations, and the points of special interest lying
within easy reach will outnumber those in any section of similar extent
in the entire country. If one purposes to make the tour by rail, London
is pre-eminently the center from which to start and to which one will
return at various times in his travels. All the principal railways lead
to the metropolis. The number of trains arriving and departing each day
greatly exceeds that of any other city in the world, and the longest
through journey in the island may be compassed between sunrise and
sunset.

The motorist, however, finds a different problem confronting him in
making London his center. I had in mind the plan of visiting the famous
places of the city and immediate suburbs with the aid of my car, but it
was speedily abandoned when I found myself confronted by the actual
conditions. One attempt at carrying out this plan settled the matter
for me. The trip which I undertook would probably be one of the first to
occur to almost anybody--the drive to Hampton Court Palace, about twelve
or fifteen miles from the central part of the city. It looked easy to
start about two or three o'clock, spend a couple of hours at Hampton
Court and get back to our hotel by six. After trying out my car--which
had reached London some time ahead of me--a few times in localities
where traffic was not the heaviest, I essayed the trip without any
further knowledge of the streets than I had gained from the maps. I was
accompanied by a nervous friend from Iowa who confessed that he had been
in an automobile but once before. He had ridden with a relative through
a retired section of his native state, traversed for the first time by
an automobile, and he had quit trying to remember how many run-aways and
smash-ups were caused by the fractious horses they met on the short
journey. Visions of damage suits haunted him for months thereafter. In
our meanderings through the London streets, the fears for the other
fellow which had harassed him during his former experience, were
speedily transferred to himself. To his excited imagination, we time and
again escaped complete wreck and annihilation by a mere hair's breadth.
The route which we had taken, I learned afterwards, was one of the worst
for motoring in all London. The streets were narrow and crooked and
were packed with traffic of all kinds. Tram cars often ran along the
middle of the street, with barely room for a vehicle to pass on either
side. The huge motor busses came tearing towards us in a manner most
trying to novices, and it seemed, time after time, that the dexterity of
the drivers of these big machines was all that saved our car from being
wrecked. We obtained only the merest glimpse of Hampton Palace, and the
time which we had consumed made it apparent that if we expected to reach
our hotel that night, we must immediately retrace our way through the
wild confusion we had just passed. It began to rain, and added to the
numerous other dangers that seemed to confront us was that of "skidding"
on the slippery streets. When we finally reached our garage, I found
that in covering less than twenty-five miles, we had consumed about four
hours and we had been moving all the time. The nervous strain was a
severe one and I forthwith abandoned any plan that I had of attempting
to do London by motor car. With more knowledge and experience I would
have done better, but a local motorist, thoroughly acquainted with
London, told me that he wouldn't care to undertake the Hampton Court
trip by the route which we had traveled.

On Saturday afternoons and Sundays, the motorist may practically have
freedom of the city. He will find the streets deserted everywhere. The
heavy traffic has all ceased and the number of cabs and motor busses is
only a fraction of what it would be on business days. He will meet
comparatively few motors in the city on Sunday, even though the day be
fine, such as would throng the streets of Chicago or New York with cars.
The Englishman who goes for a drive is attracted from the city by the
many fine roads which lead in every direction to pleasure resorts. One
of the most popular runs with Londoners is the fifty miles to Brighton,
directly southward, and the number of motors passing over this highway
on fine Sundays is astonishing. I noted a report in the papers that on a
certain Sunday afternoon no less than two hundred cars passed a police
trap, and of these, thirty-five were summoned before the magistrates for
breaking the speed limit. To the average American, this run to Brighton
would not be at all attractive compared with many other roads leading
out of London, on which one would scarcely meet a motor car during the
day and would be in no danger from the machinations of the police. Of
course the places frequented by tourists are often closed on Sunday--or
at least partially so, as in the case of Windsor Castle, where one is
admitted to the grounds and court, but the state apartments, etc., are
not shown. Even the churches are closed to Sunday visitors except
during the regular services.

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