Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great BritainStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
From the Bath I went to visit the famous Celtic temple called the
Weddings, in company with John Strachey, esq; who lives near there,
a person well versed in natural history and antiquities, and fellow
of the Royal Society. I shall describe this memorable curiosity upon
another occasion. In the way hither, about Twyfordton, I found a fallow
field with but little quantity of earth upon the rock: this was as
full of fossil shells as possible, let into a softish stone, which had
preserved their very natural colour of blue and white as perfectly as
at first. Near Stanton Drue, in a _trivium_, is an old elm-tree made
infamous for the bloody trophies of judge Jeffrys’s barbarity, in the
duke of Monmouth’s rebellion; for all its broad-spreading arms were
covered over with heads and limbs of the unfortunate countrymen. In Chu
parish is Bowditch, a large camp on a hill trebly fortified, whence you
may behold the isles of Flatholm and Steepholm in the sea. I suppose
the word means the circular form of the place. Here is a petrifying
spring. This country abounds with coal-pits: the slates that lie upon
it, and have not received their due quantity of sulphur, so as to make
perfect coal, are most curiously marked with impressions of plants,
capillary ones especially, and more particularly those of fern; all
which grew in exceeding plenty in this country, and gave their forms
to this soft matter at the Deluge. This is indeed a rock, and full
of springs, very bad road for travelling, short and steep valleys,
narrow lanes, intricate, dark and hard: so no wonder _harts-tongue_,
_liver-wort_, _maiden-hair_, _navel-wort_, and the like moist plants,
thrive here. The ground in these valleys is very rich: much wood
grows upon it; though in some roads you ride upon the superfice of a
rock lying flat in great slabs, as if artificially placed with good
joints. Many wood-plants grow about here, such as _wood-sorrel_,
_strawberries_, _tutsan_ or _park-leaves_, &c. The neatness of the
houses even of the poorer sort of people is remarkable, being generally
whited over, and with pretty little gardens, which in pure and unartful
nature is a necessary adjunct in the happiness of life.
[Sidenote: _Camps._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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