The Red Court Farm: A Novel (Vol. 1 of 2)Wood, Henry, Mrs.
General
The Red Court Farm: A Novel (Vol. 1 of 2)
Wood, Henry, Mrs.
English fiction -- 19th century
Standing still on the plateau, our backs to the sea, the eye falls on
a landscape of cultivated plains, extending out for miles and miles.
The only house near to the plateau is exactly opposite to it--a large
redbrick house built in a dell. It may be a quarter of a mile distant
from the edge of the plateau where we stand, but the gradual descent
of the grassy land causes it to look very much nearer. This is the Red
Court Farm. It is a low, long house, rather than a high one, and has
been built on the site of an ancient castle, signs of whose ruins may
be seen still. The plateau itself is but as wide as about a good
stone's throw; and on its lower part, not far from where it joins the
lands of the Red Court Farm, and the descent is rather abrupt, rises a
dilapidated circular stone wall, breast high, with a narrow opening
where the door used to be. This is called the Round Tower, and is
supposed to have been the watch-tower of the castle.
The Red Court stands alone, the last house of the colony, some
distance removed from any; its gates and door of entrance are at the
end of the house, looking to the village. The nearest building to it
is the small old church, St. Peter's, standing in the midst of a large
graveyard dotted with graves; with its portico-entrance, and its
square belfry, grey with age, green with patches of moss. The high
road, advancing from the open country behind--it's hard to say whence,
or from what bustling cities--comes winding by the entrance gates of
the Red Court Farm with a sharp turn, and sees two roads branching off
before it. It takes the one to the right, bearing round to the
village, passes through it, and goes careering on to Jutpoint, a small
town, some four or five miles distant, having the sea on the right all
the way. The other branching road leads past the church to the heath,
or common, on which are situated the handful of houses, all of
moderate size, inhabited by the gentry of the place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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