British Highways and Byways from a Motor Car: Being a Record of a Five Thousand Mile Tour in England, Wales and ScotlandMurphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler)
History
British Highways and Byways from a Motor Car: Being a Record of a Five Thousand Mile Tour in England, Wales and Scotland
Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler)
Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Maps
Two miles from Winchelsea is Rye, another of the decayed seaports of the
southeast coast. A few small fishing vessels still frequent its harbor,
but the merchant ships, which used to contribute to its prosperity, are
no longer seen. It is larger than Winchelsea and is built on a hill, its
steep, narrow streets being lined with quaint houses. These two queer
towns seem indeed like an echo from the past. It does not appear that
there have been any changes of consequence in them for the past several
hundred years. People continue to live in such villages because the
average Englishman has a great aversion to leaving his native land. One
would think that there would be emigration from such places to the
splendid lands of Western Canada, but these lands are not being taken by
Englishmen, although the opportunity is being widely advertised by the
Canadian Government and the various transportation companies. And yet
one can hardly wonder at the reluctance of the native Englishman to
leave the "tight little island," with its trim beauty and proud
tradition, for the wild, unsubdued countries of the West. If loyal
Americans, as we can rightly claim to be, are so greatly charmed with
England, dear indeed it must be to those who can call it their native
land.
Winchelsea and Rye are typical of hundreds of decayed towns throughout
the Kingdom, though perhaps they are more interesting from an historic
standpoint than the others. Being so near the French coast, they
suffered terribly in the continual French and English wars and were
burned several times by the French in their descents upon the English
coast. It was nearly dark when we reached Rye; we had planned to stop
there, but the uninviting appearance of the hotel was a strong factor
in determining us to reach Tunbridge Wells, about thirty miles away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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