Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 2Turner, Dawson
History
Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 2
Turner, Dawson
Architecture -- France -- Normandy; Normandy (France) -- Antiquities; Normandy (France) -- Description and travel
About a league before we arrived at Honfleur, a distant view of the
eastern banks of the river opened upon us from the summit of a hill, and
we felt, or fancied that we felt, "the air freshened from the wave." As
we descended, the ample Seine, here not less than nine miles in width,
suddenly displayed itself, and we had not gone far before we came in
sight of Honfleur. The mist occasioned by the intense heat, prevented us
from seeing distinctly the opposite towns of Havre and Harfleur: we
could only just discern the spire of the latter, and the long projecting
line of the piers and fortifications of Havre. The great river rolls
majestically into the British Channel between these two points, and
forms the bay of Honfleur. About four miles higher up the stream where
it narrows, the promontories of Quilleboeuf and of Tancarville close the
prospect.--Honfleur itself is finely situated: valleys, full of meadows
of the liveliest green, open to the Seine in the immediate vicinity of
the town; and the hills with which it is backed are beautifully clothed
with foliage to the very edge of the water. The trees, far from being
stunted and leafless, as on the eastern coast of England, appear as if
they were indebted to their situation for a verdure of unusual
luxuriancy. A similar line of hills borders the Seine on either side, as
far as the eye can reach.
It was unfortunate for us, that we entered the town at low water, when
the empty harbor and slimy river could scarcely fail to prepossess us
unfavorably. The quays are faced with stone, and the two basins are fine
works, and well adapted for commerce. This part of Honfleur reminded us
of Dieppe; but the houses, though equally varied in form and materials,
are not equally handsome.--Still less so are the churches; and a
picturesque castle is wholly wanting.--In the principal object of my
journey to Honfleur, my expectations were completely frustrated. I had
been told at Rouen, that I should here find a very ancient wooden
church, and our imagination had pictured to us one equally remarkable
as that of Greensted, in Essex, and probably constructed in the same
manner, of massy trunks of trees. With the usual anticipation of an
antiquary, I imagined that I should discover a parallel to that most
singular building; which, as every body knows, is one of the greatest
architectural curiosities in England. But, alas! I was sadly
disappointed. The wooden church of Honfleur, so old in the report of my
informant, is merely a thing of yesterday, certainly not above two
hundred and fifty years of age; and, though it is undeniably of wood,
within and without, the walls are made, as in most of the houses in the
town, of a timber frame filled with clay. There is another church in
Honfleur, but it was equally without interest. Thus baffled, we walked
to the heights above the town: at the top of the cliff was a crowd of
people, some of them engaged in devotion near a large wooden crucifix,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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