What to See in England Part 25

=Nearest Station.=--Lincoln.

=Distance from London.=--130 miles.

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

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 18s. 10d. ... 10s. 9d.

Return 37s. 8d. ... 21s. 6d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Great Northern Hotel," and others.

=Alternative Routes.=--Train from Marylebone, Great Central Railway.

Train from Liverpool Street, Great Eastern Railway. Train from St. Pancras, _via_ Nottingham, Midland Railway.

Lincoln stands on a hill surrounded by level country. First a British settlement, it became a Roman colony. In 1074 the decree that all bishoprics should be in fortified places caused the removal of the See of Dorchester to Lincoln. Even at this time Lincoln was an important commercial town. Many parliaments have been held in its chapter-house, and Henry VII. offered his thanksgivings after Bosworth in the cathedral.

The mighty fane, with its three ma.s.sive towers, rises majestically over the red roofs of the town. Its most striking feature is the great Norman screen, running up without b.u.t.tresses or projections to the parapet and hiding the bases of the square, richly decorated towers of the west front. The plain centre of the screen is the work of Remigius, the first bishop. The rest of it is relieved with rich arcading of Late Norman and Early English periods. The wooden spires which crowned the towers were removed in 1807.

In 1192 Hugh of Avalon determined to rebuild the Norman building of Remigius, which an earthquake had shaken. To him we owe the choir and eastern transept. His successors completed the western transept and began the west end of the nave. So much money had to be spent in rebuilding the central tower, which fell in 1239, that the canons could not rebuild the nave entirely, but had to incorporate the Norman end by Remigius. Unfortunately the axis of the west front does not correspond to that of the nave, which is too wide for its height. The low vaulting is a serious defect in the choir built by St. Hugh, but of the superb beauty of the Angel Choir, which encloses his shrine, there can be no doubt. In its richness of sculpture it is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture in England. The interior of the cathedral is remarkable for the harmony of its style, which is Lancet-Gothic, and the dim lighting of the nave only adds to its impressiveness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photochrom Co., Ltd._

LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

The original Norman building was built by Remigius, but the structure having been weakened by an earthquake shock, Hugh of Avalon in 1192 built the Choir and Eastern Transept, and his successors finished the work.]

SOMERSET, THE BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON

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

=Nearest Station.=--Horncastle (6 miles from Somersby).

=Average Time.=--from 3 to 4-1/2 hours.

=Distance from London.=--130 miles.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 18s. 4d. ... 10s. 10d.

Return 36s. 8d. ... 21s. 8d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--No inn at Somersby. Paying guests accommodated at Baumber's Manor House at Somersby. Hotels at Spilsby.

On August 6, 1809, Alfred Tennyson was born at the rectory at Somersby.

His grandfather, Mr. George Tennyson, M.P., resided at Bayon's Manor, where the family had for a long period been known in Lincolns.h.i.+re.

Alfred was the fourth of the twelve children of the Rev. George Clayton Tennyson. Although there seems little reason for not believing that the scenery which surrounded him in his youth impressed itself on his mind, yet it is now stated with authority that the localities a.s.sociated with his subject poems, "which had been ingeniously identified with real brooks and granges, were wholly imaginary." Those who visit Somersby, therefore, would be wise in avoiding what is pointed out as "Tennyson's Brook," merely gaining instead a general idea of the appearance of the country which impressed itself on the poet's mind.

When he was six years old Tennyson was sent to the grammar school at Louth, a town his mother was connected with, her father having been vicar there. After five years at school at Louth, Tennyson returned to Somersby Rectory to be trained by his father. The rectory possessed a good library, and here the poet obtained his extensive knowledge of the English cla.s.sics. When only twelve years old he wrote an epic of 6000 lines, and two years later a drama in blank verse. Tennyson's early knowledge of the sea was obtained at Mablethorpe on the Lincolns.h.i.+re coast, where the family spent their summer holidays. His father would not allow him to leave Somersby until he could recite from memory the whole of the odes of Horace.

In the early part of 1831 he returned to Somersby from Cambridge, and within a few days his father died. The new inc.u.mbent, however, allowed the family to continue at the rectory for some years. In 1837 they were finally obliged to leave, and for the next three years they lived at High Beach, Epping Forest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOMERSBY RECTORY.

Where Alfred Tennyson was born in 1809.]

GLAs...o...b..RY ABBEY

=How to get there.=--Train from Waterloo. South-Western Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Glas...o...b..ry and Street.

=Distance from London.=--132-1/4 miles.

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

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

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

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"George Hotel," "Red Lion Hotel,"

"Crown Hotel," etc.

=Alternative Route.=--Train from Paddington. Great Western Rly.

In the early days of Christianity in Britain this celebrated abbey, according to tradition, was established in A.D. 63. Joseph of Arimathea was supposed to be the founder, and the "miraculous thorn," which flowered on Christmas Day, was believed to be holy by the common people even up to the time of the Puritans. During the wars between Charles I.

and his Parliament the thorn was destroyed, but st.u.r.dy trees grown from cuttings of the original still flourish in some of the neighbouring gardens. This thorn was believed by the people to be the staff used by Joseph in his journey to Britain from the Holy Land. At one time Glas...o...b..ry Abbey covered 60 acres, and was the lengthiest ecclesiastical building in England, but as many of the houses in Glas...o...b..ry, and also a causeway across Sedgemoor (where the unhappy Duke of Monmouth was defeated) were constructed of the materials, the ruins are of necessity much diminished. The most interesting remains are the Abbey Church, with St. Joseph's Chapel, St. Mary's Chapel, and the Abbot's Kitchen. St. Joseph's Chapel is supposed to have been erected in the time of Henry II. and Richard I. It is one of the finest specimens in existence of transitional Norman work. It is now roofless, and even the vaulting of the crypt is nearly destroyed. The windows and archways of St. Mary's Chapel are beautiful, although roofless. The Abbot's Kitchen, a square ma.s.sive structure with strong b.u.t.tresses, was built about 1450. The roof is of stone and is surmounted by a louvre, through which the smoke escaped during the great culinary preparations in the days of the abbey's prosperity. The gargoyles around the building, representing the heads of sheep and oxen, are suggestive of the purpose of the building. Henry VIII., who coveted the treasures of the abbey, in 1539 summoned Abbot Whiting to surrender, and on his refusal ordered him to be drawn and quartered. This was carried out on Glas...o...b..ry Tor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photochrom Co., Ltd._

GLAs...o...b..RY ABBEY.

The doorway of St. Joseph's Chapel.]

WALSINGHAM, NORFOLK

THE PRIORY OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM

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

Great Eastern Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Walsingham.

=Distance from London.=--133 miles.

=Average Time.=--Varies between 4 and 5-1/2 hours. Quickest train 3 hours 50 minutes.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 19s. 7d. ... 10s. 3d.

Return 33s. 3d. ... 20s. 6d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Black Lion Hotel," "Abbeygate Temperance Hotel," etc.

The ruins of the famous priory are now included in the extensive grounds of Walsingham Abbey, the property of Mr. Henry Lee Warner. Visitors have permission to see these ruins on Wednesdays and Fridays, by application at the lodge of the abbey.

Walsingham is a pretty village 5 miles from Wells-on-Sea. It possesses a n.o.ble church in the Perpendicular style, an ancient town pump, and two wis.h.i.+ng wells, which were formerly believed to possess miraculous powers, for the legend is that they sprang from the ground at command of the Virgin. Walsingham was an important place for many centuries, for it contained the famous shrine of the Virgin, or, as it was called, "Our Lady of Walsingham." This far-famed chapel of the Virgin was founded by Ricoldie, the mother of Geoffrey de Faverches. When Geoffrey set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he granted to G.o.d and St. Mary, and to Edwy, his clerk, the chapel which his mother Ricoldie had built at Walsingham, with other possessions, requesting him to found a priory there. It became one of the richest in the world. From the very commencement there was an unceasing flow of pilgrims from all nations to it. Several kings and queens of England, and among them Henry VIII., paid their devotions there. Erasmus, who visited the priory in 1511, derided its enormous wealth. Parts of the road leading to this priory are known to this day as the "Walsingham Way" and the "Palmer's Way." It is said more pilgrims came to Walsingham than to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The monks taught the people that the "Milky Way" pointed to the shrine. Hence the Norfolk people called it the "Walsingham Way."

This shrine was destroyed at the dissolution of monasteries in 1539.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rev. W. Martin, Walsingham._