Wanderings in Wessex by Edric Holmes

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Beautiful in the extreme is the walk through Savernake Forest which,
if it is not to be compared with the New Forest either in size or
wildness, does in one particular surpass the latter, namely in its
magnificent vistas and beech avenues. The central walk between
Marlborough and Savernake is unsurpassed in England and probably in
Europe. It leads to Tottenham House, situated at the eastern extremity
and belonging to the Marquis of Ailesbury. This mansion stands on the
site of an old house of the Seymours, to whom the Forest passed from
the Plantagenet Kings (it was a jointure of Queen Eleanor). By marriage
the estates afterwards went to the Bruces, who still hold them.

Herds of deer roam the open glades, and wild life is abundant and
varied. In some parts of the Forest the thickets and dense undergrowth
are reminiscent of the district between the Rufus Stone and
Fording-bridge in the greater Forest, but the highest beauty of
Savernake lies in the avenues of oak and beech which extend for miles
and meet about midway between Durley and Marlborough. Here are no fir
plantations to strike an alien note. Rugged and ancient trees that
were saplings in Stuart times or before and the dense young growth of
to-day are all natural to the soil. The column that stands on high
ground, a little over a mile from Savernake station, commemorates,
among other events, the temporary recovery of George III from his
mental illness.

Great Bedwyn was once a Parliamentary borough and, in more remote
times still, a town of importance. It has a station on the
Reading-Taunton Railway and can be reached by circuitous roads from
Savernake Forest. Although nominally still a market town, it is really
but a large village. It is mentioned in the Saxon records as the scene
of a battle between the men of Wessex and those of Mercia in the great
struggle for domination in 675. The cruciform church is a fine
structure, mostly built of flint and dating from Transitional times.
The chancel is Early English and the transepts Decorated, but the nave
is of the older style with fine ornamentation. In the chancel will be
noticed the effigy of Sir John Seymour (1536), the father of Protector
Somerset. A brass commemorates another John Seymour, brother of the
Protector. There is also a monument to a daughter of Robert Devereux,
Earl of Essex. In the south transept is an effigy, cross legged, of
Sir Adam de Stokke (1312) and a plain slab with an incised cross of
another of his family. The church has a quantity of stained glass of
much beauty. An ancient Market Hall once stood in the centre of the
spacious main street; while it stood the villagers were reminded of
the vanished glories of Bedwyn. The road proceeds past Chisbury Hill,
a prehistoric camp on the Wansdyke. Within the earthwork is a barn
that was once the Decorated church of St. Martin. Mr. A.H. Allcroft
thinks that the original building was erected shortly after the drawn
battle between Wessex and Mercia that took place on the Downs
hereabouts in 675. Froxfield is reached just short of the Berkshire
border and the way accompanies the railway and canal through Little
Bedwyn, where is a stone-spired church dating from the early
thirteenth century. Froxfield Church is outside the village on a hill.
It is a small and ancient Norman building, quaint and picturesque. The
old Somerset Hospital here was founded in 1686 by Sarah Duchess of
Somerset for thirty widows of the clergy and others; about half that
number are now maintained in the beautiful old buildings, grouped
round a quadrangle high above the road.

At Hungerford, the first town in Berkshire, over nine miles _direct_
from Marlborough, we return to the Kennet. The townsmen are proud of
the fact that their liberties were given them by John of Gaunt, who
held the Royal Manor, which afterwards became the property of the
town, and as proof of the charter they still show the stranger a
famous horn presented to the burgesses by the great Duke of Lancaster.
A fierce battle is said to have raged on the banks of the Kennet
between West Saxons and Danes, where now anglers whip the stream for
the fat trout that this part of Kennet breeds. The historic _Bear Inn_
was the lodging of William of Orange on the night of December 6, 1688,
when he received the messengers of James II. Hungerford Church is now
of small interest. It has been rebuilt within recent times and
contains little from the old building. A cross-legged effigy is
supposed to represent Sir Robert de Hungerford (1340).

In coming from Marlborough to Hungerford the valley of the Kennet has
been left to the north, but only for the purpose of noting the
beauties that lie around Savernake Forest and the course of the Avon
Canal. The Kennet in its upper course is equally beautiful and, if
possible, an additional journey should be made through the picturesque
village of Axford, passing on the way Mildenhall, the one-time
Cunetio. The site of the Roman station is now marked by Folly Farm.
The most attractive place on this part of the river is Ramsbury, six
miles from Marlborough and five from Hungerford. That this little town
was evidently of great antiquity is proved by the important place it
held in the tenth century, when it was a "stool" of the Bishop of
Wiltshire. Originally the name of the town was Hrafensbyrig or
Ravensbury. The Early English church contains a number of interesting
relics of the supposed cathedral discovered in the restoration of the
existing building. They consist of sculptured stones of fine design
and well preserved. In the Darell Chapel is an altar tomb and others
to various members of this once famous family. A canopied tomb of
William de St. John stands in the chancel. Other interesting items are
the finely sculptured font and stoups at the north and south doors.
Ramsbury Park has been passed on the way here from Marlborough. In it
is the manor house, a seventeenth-century building, containing a
famous collection of armour. The Kennet is at its best as it flows
through the park.

On the Hungerford side of Ramsbury, and to the south of the Kennet, is
the famous Littlecote Manor, a magnificent and unexcelled
sixteenth-century house. Built by the Darells it passed to the
Pophams, one of whom was a leader of the Parliamentarians. A gruesome
and probably true story is told of the last of the Darells--"Wild
Dayrell." A midwife deposed that she had been fetched blindfold to
attend a lady at dead of night. When her offices were over, a
wild-looking man seized the infant and hurled it in a blazing fire.
Afterwards apprehended, Darell by some trick managed to defeat
justice.

A beautiful side excursion can be taken soon after leaving Ramsbury to
Aldbourne, three miles from the Hungerford road. This small town,
which boasts a fine church of much dignity and interest, is situated
at the end of the lonely expanse of Aldbourne Chase. From the heights
above views may be had of the distant Cotswold and Malvern Hills.
Chilton Foliat, picturesquely placed on the river bank, is the only
village passed on the way to Hungerford. Its church contains a number
of monuments to the Popham family and a cross-legged effigy of an
unknown person.

Kintbury is three miles from Hungerford on the road which follows the
canal and railway toward Newbury. The interesting and partly Norman
church was pulled about in a shameful manner in the middle of the last
century. Another restoration about forty years ago repaired the
mischief as far as was possible. The Norman doorways remain much in
their original condition, also the chancel arch and the two squints.
Kintbury is a pleasant and typical Berkshire village, little altered
by the railway, which seems to have spared these old towns and
villages in the Kennet valley in a remarkable way, possibly because
"desirable villadom" has taken itself entirely to the banks of the
Thames away to the north.

The road may be now taken northwards over the Kennet Bridge in two
miles to Avington, which is only about two miles from Hungerford
direct and just off the main Newbury road. The church here should on
no account be missed. It is a perfect gem of pure Norman architecture,
the only portion of later date being the Tudor south porch and arch
near the font; the priest's door; vestry arch and window, and a low
side window. It will be noticed that the chancel arch is broken at the
top. The font has grotesque sculpture upon it, the subjects being
doubtful. The early carvings and arabesques in the church are of great
interest and will repay careful scrutiny. Avington is one of the
smallest of hamlets, but wonderfully pretty in its setting of green on
the river-bank. The picturesque rectory is close to the church.

The Newbury road runs about half a mile north of the river past Stock
Cross and Benham Park to Speen, generally supposed to be identical
with Spinae, the Roman station at the junction of the roads from Bath
and Cirencester to Silchester. Not far from the rebuilt church is an
ancient well over which has been erected in recent years a Gothic
arch. One mile farther, eight from Hungerford, and we are in Newbury,
perhaps the "new burb" in comparison with the older settlement of
Speen. A castle built in 1140 was in existence but a few years. It was
destroyed by King Stephen after being held for the Empress Maud during
a three months' siege. Newbury took part in the Wars of the Roses and
stood for the House of York. When the Lancastrians entered the town in
1460 the partisans of York were put to the sword. Every one has heard
of "Jack of Newbury." He was a rich cloth merchant named John
Smallwood who lived in North-Brook Street at a time when the town was
famed for its woollen trade. His patriotism led him to gather one
hundred and fifty of the youth of Newbury and, himself marching at
their head, took part with his men in the battle of Flodden. His house
still stands, although greatly altered to outward appearance; in its
old rooms Henry VIII was received as a guest and proffered to the
worthy clothier a knighthood in recognition of his services to the
state, an honour which Smallwood sturdily refused.

During the Marian persecutions the Master of Reading School--Julian
Palmer, with others, was burnt at the stake. But the stirring events
of the Civil War eclipse the earlier historical interest. Two
important battles were fought in the near vicinity of the town. The
first took place on September 20, 1643. The Londoners, under Essex,
were returning to the capital after raising the siege of Gloucester,
and had taken the longer, and southern, route as being the most open
and practicable. News of the approach reached the King at Oxford and
it was decided to stop them and give battle. Essex had led his men out
of Hungerford the day before and in the evening he found his way
barred by the Royalist cavalry at Newbury Wash. The Parliamentary
forces bivouacked on Crockham Heath and next morning opened the
attack. They were fortunate enough to be able to seize the high ground
commanding the Kintbury road before the King's men awoke to the
importance of the position. The Life Guards under Biron charged up the
hill with great valour, but failed to shift the stubborn townsmen, and
brave and gentle Falkland was killed in the melee. On the Highclere
road, about a mile out of Newbury, stands the monument to this noble
and pathetic figure, whose heart seems to have been broken by the
wretched times in which he lived.

On the other side of the field Prince Rupert, after repeated attempts
to cut a way through the London infantry, met with as little success
as the Guards, and the vanguard of the Parliamentary Army had forced
its way steadily along the London road, so that, when night fell,
after a day of heroic fighting on both sides, the King decided to
retire into Newbury, and the way into London was open to the
Republicans.

The second battle took place after a year had passed, on October 27,
1644. The King's cause had been victorious in the west, and his army
had afterwards successfully relieved Donnington Castle. The Royal
forces were in a strong position to the north of Newbury, between Shaw
House and the Kennet, with Donnington in the centre of the defences.
The Army of the Parliament, under the joint command of Essex and
Manchester, and numbering among the sub-commandants Cromwell and the
redoubtable Waller, made a concerted attack from front and rear. In
this fight the honours may be said to have lain with the King as, with
the exception of the artillery, the Royal losses were small and a
successful retreat during the night quite defeated the object of the
Republican attack, which was to smash, once and for all, the army
opposed to them.

Beautiful old Shaw House, one of the finest in Berkshire, still shows
traces of the fight in the earthworks that partly encircle it. The
mansion was built by another celebrated clothier of Newbury, one
Thomas Dolman, whose namesake and descendant was knighted at the
Restoration.

Newbury Church was rebuilt by "Jack of Newbury," and the date of its
completion (1532) may be seen on a corbel. This was after Smallwood's
death, the work being finished by his son. The clothier's brass (1519)
may be seen among others. The appointments of the church are fine and
imposing; the Jacobean pulpit, dated 1607, should be noticed, also the
history of the church, in the form of an illuminated chart, on the
west wall. The hero of the town was married in the chapel of the old
Hospital of St. Bartholomew which was turned into a school in the
reign of Edward VI. Some of the school buildings are of a later date
than this. The most picturesque old house in the town, which really
contains few that are ancient, is Newbury Museum, once the Cloth Hall.
There is a pleasing glimpse of the Kennet from the short high bridge
in the main street and a still pleasanter view of the bridge itself
from the river path below.

[Illustration: CLOTH HALL, NEWBURY.]

A charming excursion can be taken to Lambourne, up in the heart of the
chalk hills to the north-west. This was one of King Alfred's towns,
and until the coming of the light railway one of the most unknown and
remote in the kingdom. Railway and road follow the course of the
Lambourne, a delightful river, clear and cold from the chalk and never
seeming to run dry, as do other streams of a like nature in
exceptionally hot summers. Another railroad goes directly north from
Newbury and forms the main route between Oxford and Winchester. This
also penetrates the heart of the Berkshire uplands and taps a district
inexhaustible in charm and interest, in the centre of which is
Wantage, famous as the birthplace of Alfred. But this country has been
fully described by Mr. Ditchfield in "Byeways in Berkshire."

The Bath road in a little over three miles from Newbury reaches
Thatcham, once, by all accounts, a large and prosperous market town,
but this was in the days of the Angevin kings. The great market square
probably dates from their time and the battered remains of the old
market cross may have replaced a still more ancient one. The fine
church has a Norman door and Transitional arcading, but a very
thorough "restoration" has obliterated most of the ancient features.
The Danvers and Fuller tombs should be seen, also an interesting brass
to Thomas Loundye. The fabric of a chantry chapel at the other end of
the village dates from 1334, but it was much altered in externals in
the early eighteenth century, when it was turned into a school.

The Bath-London road that we have travelled from Marlborough now
approaches the most beautiful stretches of the Kennet, lined with fine
parklands on the gentle northern slopes of the valley. The high hedges
and fences are in places very jealous of the beauties they encircle,
but there are charming glimpses here and there of this pleasant
countryside. Woolhampton, with a modern church of no particular
interest, is passed four miles from Thatcham, and two miles farther
comes Aldermaston Station, where we leave the great highway and turn
south to Aldermaston Wharf on the Kennet Canal. This is a most
pleasant spot, and to enhance the charm of the surroundings a large
sheet of ornamental water has been formed, close to, and fed by, the
channel. Aldermaston village is nearly two miles to the south-west and
well-placed among the wooded hills that march with the Hampshire
border. The aspect of the village is as unspoilt as any in the old
Berkshire by-ways. At the southern end of the street are the gates of
Aldermaston Park; a picturesque expanse of broken ground with several
fine avenues, and populated by herds of deer. The old Jacobean mansion
was burnt down in 1843, although a few of the ancient features were
saved and incorporated in the new house. Close to the park is the
church, the foundations of which are Norman, as are also the very fine
and uncommon west door and two blocked-up doors in the chancel and
nave. In the chapel on the south side is the tomb of Sir George
Forster and his lady (1526) with their twenty attendant children. The
knight's feet rest against his favourite hound and a lap dog is
pulling at the lady's dress. There are also brasses to some other
members of the Forster family which owned the manor during Elizabethan
days. The pulpit and sounding board belong to this period. The lancet
windows of the chancel date this portion of the church as about 1270.
There are some ancient frescoes, faint and dim by contrast with the
modern scheme of decoration; they represent St. Christopher carrying
our Lord, and, below, a mermaid and fish.

Silchester is about four miles to the south-east by winding ways that
lead over the hills of the Hampshire border. The traveller who comes
prepared to find the actual ruins of the Roman Calleva spread before
him will be grievously disappointed. The economic necessities of to-day
have rendered the surrender of the site to the agriculturist as
necessary as it is appropriate. The sandy soil of North Hants is a
better protection to these remnants of a former civilization than all
the tarpaulins or sheds that would otherwise have to be used. Minute
and accurate plans of the foundations, that include those of a small
Christian Basilica, were made in sections, as they were uncovered, over
a period extending from 1864 to 1910. For a detailed study of the
surveys, and of the many antiquities capable of removal, those
interested must visit the Reading Museum. It has been found that the
walls of Calleva followed the irregular outline of a former British
stronghold, and instead of the usual square plan the outline of the
city was seven-sided. The remnants of the flint walls are nearly one
and three-quarter miles round and contain within their circumference
about 100 acres. Within the east gate is an old farmhouse and the
interesting parish church of Silchester, dating mostly from the
thirteenth century.

The beautiful fir woods that are such a feature of the surrounding
landscape make rambles in any direction most delightful. By-ways may be
taken eastwards to the Stratfields--Mortimer, Saye and Turgis. The
second is well known as the residence of the great Duke of Wellington
and his successors, who hold it by presenting a flag to the King on the
anniversary of Waterloo.

About three miles south of Silchester is an interesting church at
Bramley. It is more than probable that the ruins of the former place
were used by the builders of this church. The older portions, the north
side of the nave and the font, are Norman. Part of the chancel is Early
English and the tower, built of brick, just antedates the Civil War.
The ugly Brocas chapel on the south side was erected in the opening
years of the nineteenth century. It contains a "monstrous fine"
sculpture of one of the family and bears on the roof their gilded
Moor's head crest as a vane. The most interesting detail in the church
is a series of wall paintings, including one of the martyrdom of St.
Thomas a Becket. The west gallery was added in the early eighteenth
century and is a handsome erection. Not far away is the fine old Manor
House, now divided into tenements, but still a gracious and dignified
"black-and-white" building.

A by-way going westwards through "Little London" eventually leads to a
number of interesting villages, among them Pamber and Monk Sherborne,
which form one parish. The church used by Pamber is a remnant of the
old Priory church founded by Henry I, and consists of the ancient choir
and tower dating from the end of the twelfth century. Within are a few
relics of this period, including several old coffin slabs, a font and a
wooden cross-legged effigy belonging to the thirteenth century. Monk
Sherborne Church has a Norman door and chancel arch and also a piscina
of this period. The remainder of the much-restored fabric is mainly
Early English.

For our present goal--Kingsclere--the way is circuitous, but extremely
pleasant. (In fine weather it is possible to take a short cut by field
paths for the greater part of the distance.) After crossing the almost
obliterated Port Way, as the road from Silchester to Old Sarum is
called, and nearly eight miles of cross country rambling from Bramley,
a main highway is reached at Wolverton, where the church is reputed to
be a work of Sir Christopher Wren. This is unlikely, but the design of
the tower is familiar to anyone acquainted with London City and dates,
with the remainder of the fabric, from 1717. The red-brick walls
relieved by white stone are a little startling at first in such an
out-of-the-way village, but their effect is not unpleasing, and when
the church is entered its fine proportions will be admired by anyone
not slavishly bound to the worship of "Gothic." The powers that once
ruled here evidently thought otherwise, for several attempts have
obviously been made to do away with some of the classic details. The
fine contemporary woodwork of the chancel and other irreplacable
details were destroyed or seriously damaged by a destructive fire about
twelve years ago.

[Illustration: WOLVERTON.]

In another two miles Kingsclere is reached. This is a very ancient
town and was under the Saxon Kings, as its name proclaims, a royal
manor. Its "papers" go back to the eighth century. After the
Conqueror's day it passed into the hands of the church, and Rouen
Canons were its overlords. When they became aliens in political fact,
the manor passed to William de Melton. King John had one of his
hunting lodges at Freeman tie on the south of the town. No history has
been made at Kingsclere since Charles passed the night of October 21,
1644, here, on his way to Newbury, but there is an air of "far-off
things and battles long ago" about the quiet little town and its grey
and solemn Norman church. The stern square church tower is a fine
example of early twelfth-century work, majestic in its simplicity, but
apart from this the exterior appears to have been scraped clean of
ancient details by a drastic restoration. Within, the spacious and
fine proportions of the building atone for a great deal that has been
lost by the mistaken zeal of Victorian renovators. The font, pulpit
and Norman north door are of especial interest; of less ancient
details, the Jacobean pulpit and the great chandelier, dated 1713,
call for notice.

The Downs to the south of Kingsclere are of much beauty and
comparatively unknown to the tourist. Although of no great height and
unremarkable in outline, the splendour of the colouring, especially
after August is past, of the woods that cover the sides of the
undulating billows of chalk is unforgettable. The Port Way, ignoring
all hills and dales in its uncompromising straightness, occasionally
shows itself as a rough track along the open side of a spinney, or as
a well-marked score in the escarpment of a Down, but never as a modern
highway east of Andover. The road winding and up and down westwards
from Kingsclere is a pleasant enough adaptation of a possible British
trackway, and brings us in a short four miles to Burghclere, where
there is a station on the Great Western Railway between Newbury and
Winchester. At Sydmonton, half a mile short of the railway, a grassy
lane leads up to Ladle Hill (768 feet), the bold bastion of chalk to
to the south. Here we may obtain a fine view of the characteristic
scenery of northern Hampshire. The curving undulations of the chalk
have many a hut circle and tumulus to tell of the fierce life that
once peopled these solitary wastes. Then the valleys were shunned as
inimical to human kind. Now the depths of almost every wrinkle and
fold has some habitation, and many a small hamlet lies out of sight
among the trees, unguessed at from the hill-road above. Away to the
south is Great Litchfield Down--literally the "Dead-field"; perhaps
the scene of a great battle, but more probably the cemetery of a
forgotten race. The still higher Beacon Hill (853 feet) appears close
at hand, as does Sidown, on the other side of Burghclere, where is
perhaps an even finer view. The old church down by the railway station
was "polished up" in a very painstaking way about fifty years ago, but
still retains a Norman nave which seems to have resisted the
sandpapering process. Highclere Park and Castle form a show-place of
the first rank; the park being beyond all praise. The slopes of the
Downs and some of their summits are within this beautiful domain of
the Earls of Carnarvon. Ear away from the Castle the park is entirely
natural and unconfined, but around the house--for an actual "castle"
is non-existent--magnificent avenues of rhododendrons make a perfect
blaze of colour in the early summer. The "Jacobean" pile high on the
hillside is so only in name, for it was built by the architect of Big
Ben. Once a favourite residence of the Bishops of Winchester, the
Castle passed to the Crown in the sixteenth century and then, after
purchase by Sir Robert Sawyer, to the Herberts by intermarriage with
the last-named knight's family. Highclere Church is a new building
designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and stands just outside the park. It
replaces an erection of the late seventeenth century which used to
stand within a stone's throw of the castle upon the site of another
building of great antiquity.

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