Surrey: Painted by Sutton Palmer; Described by A.R. Hope MoncrieffMoncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
History
Surrey: Painted by Sutton Palmer; Described by A.R. Hope Moncrieff
Moncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
Surrey (England) -- Description and travel
Some question arises as to the next stage of the Way. The original road
would naturally have turned up to Shalford, the _Shallow ford_, whose
church spire, village stocks, and picturesque old mill invite wayfarers
of this generation to a slight diversion. But the convenience of a ferry
almost opposite St. Catherine's must have straightened out the pilgrims'
track, that from this ferry runs on over a park sward, then across the
high-road up to an avenue under whose shade path, lane, and overgrown
roadway go side by side. It is necessary to insist on these details, as
here for a space the track does not as usual cling to the side of the
chalk range. Its line is continued by a lane along the north side of a
wooded ridge called the Chantries, till it reaches an opening of broken
knolls, among which one might go wrong. But after falling into the path
over the Downs from Guildford, and crossing a sandy descending lane, one
should look out on the left for a marked "Bridle road to Albury," which
leads straight up by St. Martha's Chapel.
This chapel, such a prominent landmark on a 500 feet swell of heath and
copse, seems to have had its name corrupted from "Martyrs' Hill,"
perhaps from _Sancti Martyris_, and to be really a shrine of St. Thomas,
which would claim the special devotion of his votaries. The date of its
building is unknown, but it contains an ancient coffin lid, supposed to
be that of Cardinal Stephen Langton. At Tyting Farm below is an oratory
of the twelfth or thirteenth century, taken to have been the residence
of the priest in charge. The chapel itself, after long standing in
ruins, was restored in the middle of last century, and Sunday services
are held here. The week-day pilgrim will halt to enjoy the prospect of
the Tillingbourne valley before him, edged to his left by the Downs,
which a little way farther on have their famous view-point at Newlands
Corner, said to be named from Abraham Newland, the most popular author
of England in his time, as signing the Bank of England notes, then made
at Chilworth in the valley below St. Martha's, as Cobbett indignantly
records. The Bank-note factory has gone; but still stand here the
gunpowder mills which also excited Cobbett's wrath; and here too was a
well-known printing establishment, ruined by a fire. On the south side
of St. Martha's the view ranges over a hollow filled with commons,
woods, and lakelets, like the Mere at Great Tangley, a timbered
manor-house which tradition makes one of King John's many
hunting-lodges. Beyond this valley bristling heights run westward till
they rise to the conspicuous point of Ewhurst Windmill, between which
and St. Martha's might be steered a six or seven miles' course over one
of the wildest and most lovely tracts in Surrey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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