The Rivers of Great Britain, Descriptive, Historical, Pictorial: Rivers of the South and West CoastsVarious
History
The Rivers of Great Britain, Descriptive, Historical, Pictorial: Rivers of the South and West Coasts
Various
Great Britain -- Description and travel; Rivers -- Great Britain
And now leaving the cathedral city, our river flows under the Wye
Bridge, built so long ago as 1490, with six noble arches, and proceeds
on its way towards Ross. Four miles below Hereford, the most important
of all the tributaries that spill their floods into the winding Wye is
met with. This is the Lug, which itself absorbs the waters of several
smaller rivers on its way southwards. The meeting of the Lug with the
Wye takes place at the little village of Mordiford, where once upon a
time an enormous serpent, winged and awful, used to betake itself from
feasting upon men and women and little children to drink of the waters
of the Wye. This terrible serpent was destroyed by a malefactor, who
was offered a pardon should he accomplish the task of ridding the good
people of the sore pest; and it is sad to learn that in killing the
serpent he inhaled so much of its poisonous breath that he died almost
at the same time as the monster he had brought low. But the results of
a later event, almost as important, and awe-inspiring, are to be seen
not far from this part of the Wye. They are known as "The Wonder," a
mile and a half from Woolhope, in a parish which, one would think,
should be called Miracle, but is really called Marcle. To best describe
what "The Wonder" is, we will quote Sir Richard Baker's "Chronicles
of England" as follows:--"In the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth
a prodigious earthquake happened in the east part of Herefordshire,
at a little town called Kinnaston. On the 17th of February, at six
o'clock in the evening, the earth began to open, and a hill, with a
rock under it, making at first a great hollowing noise which was heard
a great way off, lifted itself up and began to travel, bearing along
with it the trees that grew upon it, the sheepfolds, and flocks of
sheep abiding there at the same time. In the place from whence it was
first moved it left a gaping distance 40 foot broad and fourscore
ells long: the whole field was about twenty acres. Passing along, it
overthrew a chapel standing in the way, removed a yew-tree planted in
the churchyard from the west to the east; with the like force it thrust
before it highways, sheepfolds, hedges, the trees; made tilled ground
pasture, and again turned pasture into tillage. Having walked in this
sort from Saturday evening till Monday noon, it then stood still."
Surely, this is a record, even in the land of Saturday-to-Monday trips!
[Illustration: SYMOND'S YAT (_p. 140_).]
[Illustration: THE FERRY, SYMOND'S YAT.]
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