In Unfamiliar England: A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of Especial Interest, in England; With Incursions into Scotland and Ireland. — John Shaqi
In Unfamiliar England: A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of Especial Interest, in England; With Incursions into Scotland and Ireland.Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler)
History
In Unfamiliar England: A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of Especial Interest, in England; With Incursions into Scotland and Ireland.
Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler)
Great Britain -- Description and travel
It was hardly worth while--Cromwell had left very little of Sherborne
Castle. It seemed melancholy, indeed, that the riddled gateway and the
straggling pieces of wall should be all that remains of such a lordly
building. We were interested to know that it had been granted to Sir
Walter Raleigh "forever" in 1597--but only six years later the knightly
founder of Virginia was indicted for treason and fell a victim to the
cowardly malice of King James, and Sherborne Castle reverted to the
crown. It was less than half a century later that Fairfax received its
surrender in the name of the Parliament, and when the gunpowder mines
were fired the active days of the fortress were at an end.
We retrace our steps to the Antelope, thinking mournfully of the
car, which would have made such short and easy work of our weary
trip, and we heave a sigh of relief when once more, having donned our
"seven-league boots," we hear the soft purr of the motor and enjoy the
rush of the cool, sweet air--after our "ten minutes' walk."
It grows late and Exeter is far away, but we are sure of comfort at
the Rougemont and we give the car rein. How she sweeps over the sunset
hills and glides along the cool valleys, pausing cautiously to pass
some rose-embowered village, now gathering speed again for another rush
over the fine road! She is ahead of schedule at Honiton, and one of our
party remembers that the Honiton lace is famous. It is an expensive bit
of recollection, but all things go in a motor tour. After a half-hour's
pause, we are away again, and before long catch sight of the huge bulk
of Exeter Cathedral looming above the old city against the twilight
sky.
V
RAMBLES IN THE WEST COUNTRY
"Through the heart of Dartmoor forest" may bring up many fascinating,
even weird associations, but on our map we regarded the thin red line
of our road rather dubiously. It runs almost straight from Exeter
to Prince Town--the prison town of the moor--and on either side for
many miles lies a waste country, apparently quite devoid of villages
and even of roads. The road as shown on the map is thickly studded
with arrow heads, denoting dangerous hills, and the description in
the road-book is far from alluring. But we were not to be deterred
from exploring Dartmoor, as we had been on a previous occasion,
though indeed we found the first few miles between Exeter and Moreton
Hampstead trying and almost terrifying in places. The hills offered
little impediment to our motor, but for all that one has a rather eery
feeling when clinging to a precipitous incline. If something should let
loose! But nothing did.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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