If any of the pilgrims from Farnham were drawn aside down the banks of
the Wey to the hospitality of Waverley Abbey, they probably rejoined the
rest at the foot of the Hog's Back, perhaps near Whitewaysend. That is a
name with some meaning, for here first the road from Farnham runs up on
to the great chalk ridge which traverses the county from west to east.
The break in the colour of the roads under the ridge is from bright
yellow sand to staring white, but the full white does not begin until
the road is almost at its highest level, at the cross-roads above
Tongham.
Tongham is the only village between Farnham and Guildford north of the
Hog's Back and near the ridge, and though there is little in it for
antiquarians, the pretty little white inn and the oasthouses have often
attracted painters, and the approach to the village from the south is
by a road pillared and canopied with lofty elms. The churchyard holds a
curious structure. A slender oak tower, recently erected as a memorial,
stands apart from the church, riveted to the ground with iron struts,
and contains a peal of thirteen small bells. A carillon is rung every
Sunday and Wednesday; I have not heard it, but have been told that it
sounds "like sheep-bells."
[Illustration: _Tongham Church, with Wooden Tower for Bells._]
Not much can have been written about the older days of Tongham, but at
least one delightful passage in a modern book belongs to it, and should
be read under the great elms by the roadside. In Mr. George Bourne's
_Memoirs of a Surrey Labourer_, Bettesworth describes an almost
incredible feat of carting timber:--
"I see a carter once," said Bettesworth, "get three big elm-trees up
on to a timber-carriage, with only hisself and the hosses. He put
the runnin' chains on and all hisself."
"And _that_ takes some doing," I said.
"Yes, a man got to understand the way 'tis done ... I never had
much hand in timber-cartin' myself; but this man.... 'Twas over
there on the Hog's Back, not far from Tongham Station. We all went
out for to see 'n do it--'cause 'twas in the dinner-time he come,
and we never believed he'd do it single-handed. The farmer says to
'n, 'You'll never get they up by yourself.' 'I dessay I shall,' he
says; and so he did, too. Three great elm-trees upon that one
carriage.... Well, he had a four-hoss team, so that'll tell ye what
'twas. They _was_ some hosses, too. Ordinary farm hosses wouldn't
ha' done it. But he only jest had to speak, and you'd see they
watchin' him.... When he went forward, after he'd got the trees up,
to see what sort of a road he'd got for gettin' out, they stood
there with their heads stretched out and their ears for'ard. 'Come
on,' he says, and _away_ they went, _tearin'_ away. Left great ruts
in the road where the wheels sent in--that'll show ye they got
something to pull."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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