Wanderings in Wessex by Edric Holmes
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Edric Holmes >> Wanderings in Wessex
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22 [Illustration: WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.]
WANDERINGS IN WESSEX
AN EXPLORATION OF THE SOUTHERN REALM
FROM ITCHEN TO OTTER
BY EDRIC HOLMES
Author of "Seaward Sussex," etc.
With 12 full-page drawings by
M.M. VIGERS
and over one hundred illustrations in the text by the author.
Map and Plans
Dear hills do lift their heads aloft
From whence sweet springes doe flow
Whose moistvr good both firtil make
The valleis covchte belowe
Dear goodly orchards planted are
In frvite which doo abovnde
Thine ey wolde make thy hart rejoice
To see so pleasant grovnde
(_Anon. 16th Century_)
NOTE
The obvious limitations imposed by the size of this volume upon its
contents, and the brief character of the reference to localities that
require separate treatment to do them justice, would call for an
apology if it were not made clear that the object of the book is but
to introduce the would-be traveller in one of the fairest quarters of
England to some of its glories, both of natural beauty and of those
due to the skill and labour of man.
The grateful thanks of the author are due to those of his predecessors
on the high roads and in the by-ways of Wessex who, in time past,
have chronicled their researches into the history and lore of the
country-side. In one way only can he claim an equality with them--in
a deep and undying affection for this beautiful and gracious province
of the Motherland.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
INTRODUCTION
I WINCHESTER AND CENTRAL HAMPSHIRE
II SOUTHAMPTON WATER AND THE NEW FOREST
III POOLE, WIMBORNE AND THE ISLE OF PURBECK
IV DORCHESTER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS
V WEYMOUTH AND PORTLAND
VI WEST DORSET
VII EAST DEVON
VIII THE SOMERSET, DEVON AND DORSET BORDERLAND
IX SALISBURY AND THE RIVERS
X STONEHENGE AND THE PLAIN
XI THE BERKSHIRE BORDER AND NORTH HAMPSHIRE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FULL PAGE DRAWINGS
Winchester Cathedral _Frontispiece_
St. Cross
Bargate, Southampton
Corfe Castle
Cerne Abbey Gatehouse
Weymouth Harbour
The Charmouth Road
Ottery Church
Sherborne
Salisbury Cathedral
Stonehenge
Marlborough
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN THE TEXT
The Dorset Coast--Mupe Bay
Font, Winchester Cathedral
Plan, Winchester Cathedral
Steps from North Transept, Winchester
Gateway, Winchester Close
Winchester College
Statue of Alfred
City Cross, Winchester
West Gate, Winchester
The Church, St. Cross
Romsey Abbey
The Arcades, Southampton
Netley Ruins
On the Hamble
Gate House, Titchfield
The Knightwood Oak in Winter
Lymington Church
Norman Turret, Christchurch
Sand and Pines. Bournemouth
Poole
Wimborne Minster
Julian's Bridge, Wimborne
Cranborne Manor
St. Martin's, Wareham
The Frome at Wareham
Plan of Corfe Castle
Corfe Village
St. Aldhelm's
Old Swanage
Tilly Whim
The Ballard Cliffs
Arish Mel
Lulworth Cove from above Stair Hole
Durdle Door
Puddletown
Dorchester
Napper's Mite
Maiden Castle
Wyke Regis
Old Weymouth
Portland
On the way to Church Ope
Bow and Arrow Castle
Portesham
St. Catherine's Chapel
Beaminster
Eggardon Hill
Bridport
Puncknoll
Chideock
Charmouth
Lyme from the Charmouth Footpath
Lyme Bay
Axmouth from the Railway
Seaton Hole
Beer
The Way to the Sea, Beer
Branscombe Church
Sidmouth
Axminster
Ford Abbey
Tower, Ilminster
Yeovil Church
Montacute
Batcombe
Sherborne Castle
Bruton Bow
Marnhull
Blandford
Milton Abbey
Gold Hill, Shaftesbury
Wardour Castle
Wilton House, Holbein Front
Bemerton Church
Old Sarum
Salisbury Market Place
High Street Gate
Plan of Salisbury Cathedral
Gate, South Choir Aisle
The Poultry Cross, Salisbury
Longford Castle
Downton Cross
Ludgershall Church
Gatehouse, Amesbury Abbey
Amesbury Church
Plan of Stonehenge (restored)
Stonehenge Detail
Enford
Boyton Manor
Longleat
Frome Church
Westbury White Horse
Porch House, Potterne
St. John's, Devizes
Bishop's Cannings
Silbury Hill
Devil's Den
Garden Front, Marlborough College
Cloth Hall, Newbury
Wolverton
The Inkpen Country
Whitchurch
Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke
Basing
Corhampton
Map of Wessex
ARCHITECTURAL TERMS
_The following brief notes will assist the traveller who is not an
expert in arriving at the approximate date of ecclesiastical
buildings._
SAXON 600-1066. Simple and heavy structure. Very small wall openings.
Narrow bands of stone in exterior walls.
NORMAN 1066-1150. Round arches. Heavy round or square pillars. Cushion
capitals. Elaborate recessed doorways. Zig-zag ornament.
TRANSITION 1150-1200. Round arched windows combined with pointed
structural arch. Round pillars sometimes with slender columns
attached. Foliage ornament on capitals.
EARLY ENGLISH 1200-1280 (including Geometrical) Pointed arches.
Pillars with detached shafts. Moulded or carved capitals. Narrow and
high pointed windows. Later period--Geometrical trefoil and circular
tracery in windows.
DECORATED 1280-1380. High and graceful arches. Deep moulding to
pillars. Convex moulding to capitals with natural foliage. "Ball
flowers" ornament. Elaborate and flamboyant window tracery.
PERPENDICULAR 1380-1550. Arches lower and flattened. Clustered
pillars. Windows and doors square-headed with perpendicular lines.
Grotesque ornament. (The last fifty years of the sixteenth century
were characterized by a debased Gothic style with Italian details in
the churches and a beauty and magnificence in domestic architecture
which has never since been surpassed.)
JACOBEAN and GEORGIAN 1600-1800 are adaptations of the classical
style. The "Gothic Revival" dates from 1835.
INTRODUCTION
The kingdom of Wessex; the realm of the great Alfred; that state of
the Heptarchy which more than any other gave the impress of its
character to the England to be, is to-day the most interesting, and
perhaps the most beautiful, of the pre-conquest divisions of the
country.
As a geographical term Wessex is capable of several interpretations
and some misunderstandings. Early Wessex was a comparatively small
portion of Alfred's political state, but by the end of the ninth
century, through the genius of the West Saxon chiefs, crowned by
Alfred's statesmanship, the kingdom included the greater portion of
southern England and such alien districts as Essex, Kent, and the
distinct territory of the South Saxons.
The boundaries of Wessex in Alfred's younger days and before this
expansion took place followed approximately those of the modern
counties of Hants, Berks, Wilts and Dorset, with overlappings into
Somerset and East Devon.
The true nucleus of this principality, which might, without great call
upon the imagination, be called the nucleus of the future Britain, is
that wide and fertile valley that extends from the shores of the
Solent to Winchester and was colonized by two kindred races. Those
invaders known to us as the Jutes took possession of Vectis--the Isle
of Wight--and of the coast of the adjacent mainland. The second band,
of West Saxons, penetrated into the heart of modern Hampshire and
presently claimed the allegiance of their forerunners.
That seems to have been given, to a large extent in an amicable and
friendly spirit, to the mutual advantage of the allied races.
It would appear that these settlers--Jutes and Saxons--were either
more civilized than their contemporaries, or had a better idea of
human rights than had their cousins who invaded the country between
Regnum and Anderida to such purpose "that not one Briton remained." Or
it may be that the majority of the inhabitants of south central
Britain, left derelict by their Roman guardians, showed little
opposition. It is difficult for a brave and warlike race to massacre
in cold blood a people who make no resistance and are therefore not
adversaries but simply chattels to be used or ignored as policy, or
need, dictates. In 520 at Badbury Hill, however, a good fight seems to
have been made by a party of Britons led, according to legend, by the
great Arthur in person. The victory was with the defenders and had the
effect of holding up Cerdic's conquest for a short time. Again some
sort of resistance would seem to have been made before those
mysterious sanctuaries around Avebury and Stonehenge fell to the
Saxon. It is possible that the old holy places of a half-forgotten
faith were again resorted to during the distracting years which
followed the withdrawal of the Roman peace that, during its later
period, had been combined with Christianity. Whatever the cause, it is
certain that something prevented an immediate Saxon advance across the
remote country which eventually became Wiltshire and Dorset. But the
end came with the fall of the great strongholds around Durnovaria
(Dorchester) which took place soon after the Saxon victory at Deorham
in 577, twenty-five years after Old Sarum had capitulated, thus
cutting off from their brothers of the west and north those of the
British who still remained in possession of the coast country between
the inland waters and savage heathlands of East Dorset and the still
wilder country of Exmoor, Dartmoor and Cornwall.
So, by the end of the sixth century, the Kingdom of Wessex was made
more or less an entity, and the dark-haired, dark-eyed race who once
held the country were in the position of a conquered and vassal
people; for the times and the manners of those times well used by
their conquerors, especially in the country of the Dorsaetas, where at
the worst they were treated as useful slaves, and at the best the
masters were but rustic imitators of their forerunners, the Romans. To
the most careless observer a good proportion of the country people of
Dorset are unusually swarthy and "Welsh" in appearance, though of the
handsomer of the two or three distinct races that go to make up that
mixed nation, which has among its divergent types some of the most
primitive, both in a physical and mental sense, in Europe.
In the ninth century the Kingdom of Wessex had assumed a compact
shape, its boundaries well defined and capable of being well defended.
The valley of the Thames between Staines and Cricklade became the
northern frontier; westwards Malmesbury, Chippenham and Bath fell
within its sphere, and Bristol was a border city. To the east of
Staines the overlordship of Wessex extended across the river and
reached within twenty miles of the Ouse at Bedford. These districts
were the remnants of the united state of the first King of the
English--Egbert, whose realm embraced not only the midland and
semi-pagan Mercia, but who claimed the fealty of East Anglia and
Northumbria and for a few years made the Firth of Forth the north
coast of England. To the south-west the country that Alfred was called
upon to govern reached to the valley of the Plym, and so "West Wales"
or Cornwall became the last retreat of those Britons who refused to
bow to the Saxon.
It will be seen how difficult a matter it is to define the district
this book has to describe, so the southern boundary of the true Wessex
must be taken as the coast line from the Meon river on the east side
of Southampton Water to the mouth of Otter in Devon. On the north, the
great wall of chalk that cuts off the south country from the Vale of
Isis and the Midlands and that has its bastions facing north from
Inkpen Beacon to Hackpen Hill in the Marlborough Downs. East and west
of these summits an arbitrary line drawn southwards to the coast
encloses with more or less exactitude the older Wessex.
Outside the limits here set down but still within Alfred's Kingdom is
a land wonderful in its wealth of history, gracious in its English
comeliness, the fair valleys and gentle swelling hills of South-west
Devon, wildly beautiful Dartmoor and the coloured splendour of Exmoor,
the patrician walls of Bath, and the high romance of ancient Bristol.
Under the Mendip is that gem of medieval art at Wells, one of the
loveliest buildings in Europe, and the unmatched road into the heart
of the hills that runs between the most stupendous cliffs in South
Britain. Not far away is Avalon, or Glastonbury if you will, the
mysteries of which are still being mysteriously unfathomed. From the
chalk uplands of our northern boundary we may look to the distant vale
in whose heart is the dream city of domes and spires--Oxford, and
trace the trench of England's greatest river until it is lost in the
many miles of woodland that surge up to the walls of Windsor. East and
south is that beautiful and still lonely country that lies between the
oldest Wessex and the sister, and ultimate vassal, kingdom of Sussex;
the country of the Meonwaras, a region of heather hills and quiet pine
combes that stretch down to the Solent Sea and the maritime heart of
England--Portsmouth.
Across the narrow bar of silver sea is an epitome of Wessex in
miniature, Vectis, where everything of nature described in these
following chapters may be found, a Lilliputian realm that contains not
only Wessex but morsels of East Anglia and fragments of Mercia and
Northumbria, combined with the lovely villages and pleasant towns that
only Wight can show.
All this storied beauty is without the scope of this book but within
the greater Wessex that came to the King who is the really
representative hero of his countrymen. The genius of the West Saxon
became for a time, and to a certain extent through force of
circumstance, a jealous and rather narrow insularity, without wide
views and generous ideals, but to this people may be ascribed some of
the higher traits that go to redeem our race. That their original
rough virtues were polished and refined by their beautiful environment
in the land that became their heritage few can doubt. That their
gradual absorption and amalgamation with the other races who fought
them for the possession of this "dear, dear land" has resulted in the
evolution of a people with a great and wonderful destiny is manifest
to the world, and is a factor in the future of mankind at which we can
but dimly guess.
[Illustration: THE DORSET COAST--MUPE BAY.]
The scenery of Inner Wessex is as varied as the materials that go to
make it up, from the bare rolling chalk downs of Salisbury Plain to
the abrupt and imposing hills around the Vale of Blackmore. To most
who travel in search of the picturesque and the beautiful, the Dorset
coast and the country immediately in the rear, will make the greatest
appeal. The line of undulating cliffs, often towering in bold,
impressive shapes, that commences almost as soon as Dorset is entered
and continues without a dull mile to the eastern extremity of
Weymouth, is to some minds the finest stretch of England's shore
outside Cornwall, a county that depends entirely on its coast line for
its claim to beauty. To some eyes, indeed, the exquisite and varied
colouring of the Dorset cliffs is more satisfying than that of the
dour and dark rocks of Tintagel and the Land's End. And if Wessex
cannot boast the sustained grandeur of the stern face that England
turns to the Atlantic waves, the romantic arch of Durdle Door, the
majestic hill-cliff that rises above the green cleft of Arish Mel, and
the sombre precipices of St. Aldhelm's, with the smiling loveliness of
the Wessex lanes and hamlets behind them, will be sufficient
recompense.
Hampshire has been given the character of having the least interesting
shore of all the southern counties. This is a matter of individual
taste. The surf that beats on the sands from Bournemouth to
Southampton Water washes the very edge of the "Great Wood." Again, the
long pebble wall of the Chesil Bank and the barrier "fleets" of middle
Wessex are a real sanctuary of the wild. This is almost the longest
stretch in England without bathing machine or bungalow. Remote and
little visited also is the exquisite sea country that begins at the
strange little settlement of Bridport Quay and ends in Devonshire. To
the writer's mind there is nothing more lovely in seaward England than
the scenery around Golden Cap, that glorious hill that rises near
little old "Chiddick," and no sea town to equal Lyme, standing at the
gate of Devon and incomparably more interesting and unspoilt than any
Devon coast town.
But the traveller in search of something besides the picturesque will
not be contented until he has explored the wonderful region that
enshrines the most unique of human works in Britain, belonging to
remotely different ages and widely dissimilar in aspect and
purpose--Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge. No one can claim to know
Wessex until some hours of quiet have been spent within the walls of
the ancient capital, and no one can know England until the spirit of
the English countryside, the secluded and primary village of the
byways with its mothering church, rich with the best of the past, has
been studied, known and loved. This is the essential England for which
the yeoman of England, whose memorials will be seen in almost every
Wessex hamlet, have given their lives.
[Illustration: ST. CROSS.]
CHAPTER I
WINCHESTER AND CENTRAL HAMPSHIRE
The foundations of the ancient capital of England were probably laid
when the waves of Celtic conquest that had submerged the Neolithic men
stilled to tranquillity. The earliest records left to us are many
generations later and they are obscure and doubtful, but according to
Vigilantius, an early historian whose lost writings have been quoted
by those who followed him, a great Christian church was re-erected
here in A.D. 164 by Lucius, King of the Belgae, on the site of a
building destroyed during a temporary revival of paganism. The Roman
masters of Lucius called his capital, rebuilt under their tuition,
"Venta Belgarum." The British name--Caer Gwent--belonged to the
original settlement. The size and boundaries of both are uncertain.
Remains of the Celtic age are practically non-existent beneath
Winchester, though the surrounding hills are plentifully strewn with
them, and if Roman antiquities occasionally turn up when the
foundations of new buildings are being prepared, any plan of the Roman
town is pure conjecture. The true historic interest of Winchester, and
historically it is without doubt the most interesting city in England,
dates from the time of those West Saxon chiefs who gave it the
important standing which was eventually to make it the metropolis of
the English.
The early history of Winteceaster is the history of Wessex, and when
Cerdic decided to make it the capital of his new kingdom, about 520,
it was probably the only commercial centre in the state, with
Southampton as its natural port and allied town. As the peaceful
development of Wessex went on, so the population and trade of the
capital grew until in a little over a hundred years, when Birinus came
from over seas bearing the cross of the faith that was soon to spread
with great rapidity over the whole of southern England, he found here
a flourishing though pagan town. After the conversion of King Cynegils
the first Wessex bishopric was founded at Dorchester near the banks of
the Thames, but by 674 this was removed to the capital where there had
been built a small church dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, probably on
the site now occupied by the cathedral and originally by the church of
Lucius and its predecessor.
The great structure we see to-day is remarkable in many ways. It is
the longest Gothic building in the world, and is only exceeded by St.
Peter's in Rome. In spite of the disappointment the stranger
invariably experiences at his first sight of the squat tower and
straight line of wall, its majestic interior, and the indefinable
feeling that this is still a temple and not a mere museum, will soon
give rise to a sense of reverent appreciation that makes one linger
long after the usual round of "sights" has been accomplished. The war
memorial, dignified and austere, that was placed outside the west
front in the autumn of 1921, is a most effective foil to the
singularly unimposing pile of stone and glass behind it. But, however
it may lack the elegance of the usual west "screen," this end of
Winchester Cathedral has the great merit of being architecturally
true.
[Illustration: FONT, WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.]
Of the first Saxon building nothing remains. In this Egbert was
crowned King of the English in 827. It was strongly fortified by St.
Swithun, who was bishop for ten years from 852. At his urgent request
he was buried in the churchyard instead of within the cathedral walls.
Another generation wishing to honour the saint commenced the removal
of the relics. On the day set aside for this--St. Swithun's day--a
violent storm of rain came on and continued for forty days, thus
giving rise to the old and well known superstition of the forty days
of rain following St. Swithun's should that day be wet.
Under Bishop Swithun's direction the clergy and servants of the
cathedral successfully resisted an attack by the Danes when the
remainder of the city was destroyed. Soon after this, in the midst of
the Danish terror, Alfred became king and here he founded two
additional religious houses, St. Mary's Abbey, the Benedictine
"Nunnaminster;" and Newminster on the north side of the cathedral. Of
this latter St. Grimald was abbot. Nearly a hundred years later, in
Edgar's reign, the cathedral itself became a monastery, with Bishop
Athelwold as first abbot. He rebuilt the cathedral, dedicating it to
St. Swithun; it had been originally dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul.
Within this fabric Canute and his wife were buried; that earlier
Conqueror of the English having made Winchester his imperial capital.
A few years later, on Easter Day, the coronation of St. Edward took
place with great pomp. Soon after the advent of William I, who made
Winchester a joint metropolis with London and was crowned in both, the
building of the great Norman church by Bishop Walkelyn was begun; the
consecration taking place on St. Swithun's day 1093. Of this structure
the crypt and transepts remain practically untouched. The nave, though
Norman at its heart, has been altered in a most interesting way to
Perpendicular without scrapping the earlier work. Walkelyn's tower
fell in and ruined the choir in 1107, legend says as a protest against
the body of Rufus being placed beneath it. The present low tower
immediately took its place. Bishop de Lucy was responsible for
rebuilding the Early English choir about 1200. The famous Bishop
Wykeham completed the work of his predecessor, Edyngton, in rebuilding
the west front, and he it was who beautified the nave. The great east
window dates from about 1510; the lady chapel being rather earlier in
date.
[Illustration: PLAN, WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.]
The extreme length of the cathedral is 556 feet; the breadth of the
transepts being 217 feet, and as the nave is entered the majestic
proportions of the great church will be at once appreciated.
Particular notice should be taken of the black font brought from
Tournai; it has the story of St. Nicholas carved upon it. The
situation of this and the tombs and other details will be quickly
identified by reference to the plan. On the south side is the chantry
of Bishop Wykeham, now fitted up as a chapel. Farther east is a
modern effigy, much admired, of Bishop Harold Browne, who died in
1891. A very beautiful iron grille that once protected the shrine of
St. Swithun now covers a door on the north side of the nave. Certain
of the piers in the nave were repaired in 1826-7 and the "restorer,"
one Garbett, inserted _iron_ engaged columns on the face of that
one nearest to Bishop Edyngton's chantry, it is said for the sake
of economy and strength! Some of the stained glass in the nave,
according to Mr. Le Coutier, dates from the time of Bishop Edyngton,
and that representing Richard II is a work contemporary with Bishop
Wykeham. This part of the building has been the scene of many
progresses--magnificent and sad--from the coronation processions of
the early kings and the slow march of their funerals to that of the
wedding of Mary I, when the queen blazed with jewels "to such an
extent that the eye was blinded as it looked upon her." But the most
unforgettable of all was on that dreadful day when the troops of
Waller marched up the nave, some mounted and all in war array, to
despoil the tombs of bishop and knight of their emblems of piety and
honour and to destroy anything beautiful that could be reached with
pike or sword.
On the right of the choir steps is Bishop Edyngton's chantry and on
the left the grave of the last Prior, Kingsmill, who afterwards became
first Dean. In the centre of the choir stands the reputed tomb of
William Rufus. This part of the building forms a mortuary chapel for
several of the early English Kings, including Canute. Their remains,
with those of several bishops, rest in the oak chests that lie on the
top of the choir screen. They were deposited here by Bishop Fox in
1534. This prelate was responsible for the beautiful east window; a
perfect specimen of old stained glass. The fine pulpit dates from
1520. In the choir, the scene of Edward Confessor's coronation in
1043, Mary I and Philip of Spain were married. The fine carvings of
the stalls date from 1296 and their canopies from 1390. They are among
the earliest specimens of their kind in Europe.
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