What to See in England Part 24

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Valentine & Sons, Ltd._

TRINITY CHURCH, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.

From the river. In the chancel is Shakespeare's grave.]

BURNHAM THORPE, NORFOLK

THE BIRTHPLACE OF NELSON

=How to get there.=--Train from Liverpool Street or St. Pancras. Great Eastern Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Burnham Market (1 mile from Burnham Thorpe).

=Distance from London.=--122 miles.

=Average Time.=--Varies between 3-3/4 and 4-1/2 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 19s. 10d. ... 10s. 3d.

Return 34s. 0d. ... 20s. 4d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Hoste Arms" at Burnham Market.

Burnham Thorpe, the native village of the great Admiral Nelson, is within walking distance of either Holkham, Burnham Market, or Wells-next-the-Sea. Horatio Nelson, the fourth son of Edmund and Catherine Nelson, was born on September 29, 1758, at the Parsonage House, which has unfortunately been pulled down. There are, however, many interesting relics of Nelson in the village church, and it is interesting to see the surroundings among which Nelson's childhood was pa.s.sed. In the parish register may be seen the signature of Nelson as a witness to a marriage in the year 1769, when he was eleven years old.

There is a lectern constructed from the wood of the old _Victory_, which was presented by the Lords of the Admiralty in 1881. The old Purbeck marble font in which Horatio was baptized is still to be seen in the church. How much Nelson loved his native village can be understood from his remark as the _Victory_ was going into action, "This is the happiest day of my life; what a happy day, too, for Burnham Thorpe, for it is the day of their fair."

Nelson's father was not by any means well off, and the question of providing for his sons was a very serious one. Horatio, however, solved the question as to his own career. At the Grammar School at Norwich, Nelson said to his brother, "Do, William, write to my father and tell him that I should like to go to sea with Uncle Maurice." Captain Maurice Suckling is said to have heard of Horatio's decision with some surprise, for he said, "What has poor Horatio done, who is so weak, that he, above all the rest, should be sent to rough it out at sea? But let him come, and the first time we go into action a cannon-ball may knock off his head and provide for him at once."

In January 1771, when at school at North Walsham, Nelson heard that he was to join the _Raisonnable_, of 64 guns, at Chatham. He was then only twelve years old.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _G.W. Wilson & Co._

BURNHAM THORPE CHURCH.

It still contains the old marble font in which Nelson was baptized.]

LULWORTH COVE, DORSETs.h.i.+RE

=How to get there.=--By rail from Waterloo Station. South-Western Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Wool, 5 miles. (Corfe Castle, Wareham, and Swanage are very convenient, though the drive is a little longer.) =Distance from London.=--126 miles.

=Average Time.=--Varies between 3-1/2 to 5-1/4 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 21s. 0d. 13s. 2d. 10s. 6d.

Return 36s. 9d. 23s. 0d. 21s. 0d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Cove Hotel," West Lulworth.

"Banke's Arms Hotel" at Corfe Castle.

=Alternative Route.=--_Via_ Bournemouth. Train direct from Waterloo.

Steamers run once a week or oftener during the summer months (weather permitting) to Swanage and Lulworth Cove.

The remarkable cove at West Lulworth consists of a completely circular basin, hollowed out of the bold cliffs of the southern coast-line of Purbeck Island. It is of sufficient depth to allow small s.h.i.+ps of from sixty to eighty tons to enter. The narrow opening to the cove is between two bluffs of Portland stone, forming a portion of what was the barrier to the sea in former times. Once, however, did the waves eat through the Portland stone in this place, it was easy work to gradually batter down and wash out, through the narrow opening, a circular bay from the soft strata of Hastings sands lying in the protection of the Portland stone.

On the west side of the cove one may notice rocks with such peculiarly contorted strata as those shown in the foreground of the ill.u.s.tration opposite.

A most interesting and rugged portion of the coast lies to the west of Lulworth Cove. After leaving the coastguard signal station one reaches Stair Hole, a cavity walled off from the sea by Portland limestone. At high tide, however, the sea enters the chasm through a number of small apertures, and is probably carving out at this spot a circular basin after the manner of Lulworth Cove. Pa.s.sing Dungy Head and Oswald or Horsewall Bay, with its towering chalk cliffs, one reaches a low promontory known as Tongue Beach. It is formed of layers of limestone tilted into curved or perpendicular positions. Crossing this promontory one enters Durdle Bay, with the Barndoor, an archway 30 feet high, in a ma.s.sive cliff.

At East Lulworth, a little way inland from the cove, stands Lulworth Castle, an imposing-looking building with circular towers at each corner. It was built about three hundred years ago on the site of an earlier castle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LULWORTH COVE FROM THE WEST.

The circular basin has been eaten out of the sandy soil after the sea had cut an opening in the Portland stone which forms the actual coast-line at this point.]

CORFE CASTLE

IN THE ISLE OF PURBECK, DORSETs.h.i.+RE

=How to get there=.--By rail from Waterloo Station. South-Western Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Corfe Castle--quite close to the ruins.

=Distance from London.=--130 miles.

=Average Time.=--Varies between 3 to 5 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 21s. 2d. 13s. 3d. 10s. 7d.

Return 37s. 0d. 23s. 3d. 21s. 2d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.= "The Banke's Arms Hotel."

=Alternative Route.=--_Via_ Bournemouth and steamer to Swanage.

Corfe Castle on its great hill, with the little hamlet which goes by the same name which cl.u.s.ters at its foot, is one of the most spectacular of the ruined fortresses to be found in Southern England. At the periods of the year when there are no strangers in the village, the ruins and the village leave an impression on the mind which is not so palpable when there are the distractions caused by other visitors. But even then, the grand view across the wild downs forming the backbone of the island of Purbeck, over which one gazes from the shattered towers and curtain walls, is sufficiently memorable. Its position, commanding the whole Purbeck range of hills, made the spot famous in Saxon days, when it was known as Corfe Gate. Shortly after the days of Alfred the Great the hill was strongly fortified by King Edgar, who made it his residence and probably built the central keep, whose ruins still crown the summit of the hill. Edgar left the castle to his widow Elfrida, whose name has been handed down as the murderer of her stepson Edward--afterwards named Edward the Martyr. He visited Corfe Castle in order to see his brother, but while drinking a goblet of wine in the gateway between the two circular towers shown in the ill.u.s.tration, he was stabbed by command of Elfrida. During the civil war between Stephen and Maud, the fortress defied all attempts to take it by Stephen's adherents; and up to the struggle between Charles I. and his Parliament, when for a s.p.a.ce of six weeks Lady Bankes held the castle with a handful of retainers, Corfe Castle has figured prominently in English history.

The village is almost entirely composed of cottages whose stone walls and thick slate roofs are beautifully mellowed by the hand of time.

Nowhere does there appear anything new to jar with the silver greys and the grey greens of the old cottages, the church, and the castle ruins.

A charge of sixpence each person is made for admission to the castle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORFE CASTLE.

Showing on the left the ma.s.sive round towers flanking the gateway, where, in Saxon times, Edward is said to have been stabbed by command of his stepmother, Elfrida.]

LINCOLN AND ITS CATHEDRAL

=How to get there.=--Train from King's Cross. Great Northern Rly.