Thomas Hardy's DorsetHopkins, R. Thurston (Robert Thurston)
History
Thomas Hardy's Dorset
Hopkins, R. Thurston (Robert Thurston)
Dorset (England); Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928
In 1902 a commemoration tablet was placed on the house. Similar tablets
have been placed on Ellesdon Farm, the George Inn (now a shop),
Bridport, and on the George Inn, Broadwindsor, at each of which Charles
II. took refreshment or a night's lodgment during his passage through
Dorset.
Two lanes, one turning off near the top of the straight descent, and one
just below the church, lead in a few minutes to the sea. The beach is
sand, shingle and rock, and supports a coastguard station, bathing
machines and a few fishing-boats which are launched from the beach.
There are cliffs on each side of the bay, and here the Char, "a small,
irregular, alder-fringed, playful river, full of strange fish such as
inland streams yield not," mingles very modestly with the sea. The river
rises under Lewesdon and Pilesdon, about six miles distant in a direct
line. Three miles north of Charmouth is Corrie Castle (King's Castle),
supposed to have been the camp of Egbert when he fought with the Danes.
The cliffs at Charmouth exhibit a fine section of the strata and abound
in interesting fossil remains. These include the bones of those
colossal reptiles the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus, of the
pterodactyl, and numerous fish; and, among other shells, those of the
ammonite and belemnite, which are found in great quantities on Golden
Cap. The lias contains much bituminous matter and iron pyrites, which
have frequently taken fire after heavy rains. At a bed of gravel near
the mouth of the river the remains of an elephant and rhinoceros have
been discovered.
The tourist must look for the relic of the "Queen's Head" next above a
chapel and opposite the picturesque George Inn. I think that the quiet
folk who occupy the genuine inn where the king stopped must often
breathe mild maledictions over the heads of inquisitive pilgrims who
peep and peer into their windows, and I suspect that they have begged
mine host of the George to claim for his house the honour of sheltering
Charles Stuart from the troops. At all events the George is pointed out
to the visitor as the great historical attraction, in spite of the fact
that it was built long after the time King Charles was in hiding in
Dorset.
CHAPTER XIII
RAMBLES AROUND BRIDPORT
I, who am a pagan child,
Who know how dying Plato smiled,
And how Confucius lessoned kings,
And of the Buddha's wanderings,
Find God in very usual things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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