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
The way thenceforth is not quite so plain; but one cannot go far wrong
by taking a green lane to the left and keeping pretty straight south up
a central ridge-way till a glimpse of the tower is gained in the wood.
Did one hold rather too much to the left, the worst of it would be
wandering into the road at Coldharbour. Holding more to the right, one
comes into a deep hollow above Wotton, where the ponds and cascades of
the Tillingbourne lead up to Broadmoor, a model village among meadows
opening out in the woods. The narrowing hollow takes one straight to
the tower by a beautiful and gradual ascent; but this route is not the
best in wet weather. It properly belongs to the next line to be
indicated, the base of which is Wotton, lying about midway between
Dorking and Gomshall station.
Wotton is famous as the seat of John Evelyn, the diarist, and author of
_Sylva_, who put his knowledge of trees so well in practice, that his
hand is still seen not only about this _Wood town_ but in other garden
grounds of the county. Blackheath was an _alias_ of the parish, which it
perhaps better deserved before he set an example of planting the hill
with his favourite firs; yet the estate must have been already well
timbered, according to the account he gives of its sylvan wealth. On the
high-road, up a stiff ascent beyond the Rookery, comes the inn called
"Wotton Hatch," beside the Park gate. Opposite this a way turns down to
the Church, which lies below the north side of the road, beautifully
embowered on a knoll, with the Deerleap Wood beyond it, and the coombe
of Pickett's Hole as invitation for a steep climb on the Downs.
In the Evelyn chapel of this church, "the dormitory of my ancestors,
near to that of my father and pious mother," is the coffin-shaped tomb
of John Evelyn, of whom his epitaph may tell without falsehood how,
"Living in an age of Events and Revolutions, he learnt (as himself
asserted) this Truth which, pursuant to his Intention, is here
declared--That all is Vanity which is not Honest, and that there is no
solid Wisdom but in real Piety." Of the other family monuments the most
noticeable is Westmacott's memorial to Captain George Evelyn, with an
inscription by Arnold of Rugby. In the churchyard stands the tomb of
William Glanville, on which is still performed a ceremony devised by
this kinsman of the Evelyns, to keep his memory green among successive
rising generations. Dying 1718, by his will he directed forty shillings
apiece to be paid to five poor boys of Wotton, below sixteen, who on the
anniversary of his death should repeat by heart, with their hands laid
on his gravestone, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Decalogue, also
as a further proof of scholarship reading 1 Corinthians xv., and writing
legibly the first two verses. The Church porch in John Evelyn's time was
a school where, he tells us, he himself got the elements of learning,
before _not_ going to Eton, from which he was scared away by fear of the
rod.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account