A TRIP ABROAD

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8, 7 May 1912, Page 2

A TRIP ABROAD

(By "Traveller. 0 ) Being favoured with fine weather, the villages of loan, Draycott, Sudbury, and Marchington wore visited, all interesting 111 their" way, "At the former there is, a '-c-y fine <>H had tthd a tape manufactory. Sudbury Hall is an old Elizabethan mansion belonging Vcrnons, and in the Village those relics of the "good old days' the stocks—are ?iill j.reflorvcd. I'iftxeter is a town of over 5000 population. About a mile to the south is a place called High Wood, whore history says a battle Was fought between the loyalists and Parliamentary forces in WIG. This town was noted for the longevity of it's inhabitants, and tor the manufacture of clocks. There IE now a large manufactory of agricultural implements, nails, etc., established. Mary Howitt, the poetess, resided her, and the scene of her poem, "The Fairies of Oauldon Low," is laid in this district, Br. Johnson .lid pennance in the market place, by standing bareheaded for an hour in the rain, before a stall once occupied by his father, and exposed to the jeers of the bystanders, in remorse for having refused fifty years before to take charge of the bookstall while his father was ill in bed. About two miles, from here is the rdlago •>! L -.\h y, where they'say Robin Hood was born. Visitors to this district should not miss the trip down the Manifold Valley by the light railway. The train was taken to Eroghall, between Leek and Alton, where there are copper and wire works, and a paint and colour manufactory. El) route from here by roal. Wbiston avd f'aaidon Low arc passed. At the latter place there are great quarries belonging l-o the North Staffordshire Railway Company. These quarries are three nib s from Froghall, and the limestone is sort down at the rate of 1000 tons .t day in the season, and is used in the blast furnaces at Staffordshire. The dislarce by the light railway from Watarnouses on the Hamps to Hulme End, the terminus, is only eight miles, but the scenery is beautiful and the trip very interesting. There are eight stacions cn.this line. 1 had heard of the Water Swallows about hero, and was expecing to see some kind of aquatic lords, but found out the term to mean where the water disappears in the riverbed, or is "swallowed" up. Tin's sinking occurs during the dry summer, and leaves a dry shinggley riverbed. The Hamps and Manifold jgtreams join at Beeston Tor, where there is a mass of limestone about 200 feet high. At Grindon the scenery is very pretty, there being some choice pieces of "wood and water" so dear to artists. Perhaps the most interesting scene on 'the line is Thor's Cave. This is a cliff about 850 feet high, in which there is a. cavern wherein many ancient relics have been found. About a mile from Thor's Cave station is the small village of Wetton. What impresses visitors is the great antiquity of some of these villages. Wetton, for instance, contains 300 inhabitans only, and yet the historian tells us that it was the site of a British town not less than two thousand years ag~! Passing Butterton station, we arrive at Ecton, near the old village of Warslow. At Ecton there are copper and lead .mines, and report has it that gunpowder was first used in these mines for blasting puiposes by German miners, brought to England by Prince f Rupert, nephew of Oharl-s 1. It is staid,that the Duke of Devonshire built the splendid Crescent at Buxton out or'due year's profits of these mines. As far as I could learn they aro not worked at present. Hulme End is the terminus, and the walk to Hartington (two miles) was most enjoyable. 'The autumnal foliage was a picture; i and the day an ideal one. Hartingtpn is a small town, from which the eldest'sons of the Dukes of Devonshire take their title. At the Charles Cotton Hotel, which is a resort for anglers, there is a collection of old pictures, amongst th'-m portraits of Isaac Walton and his friend Charles Cotton. In the old church aiid the yard there are some very anciont tombs and epitaphs. The word "Sacred" on many of these stones is generally cut in Old English or German text, beautifully flourished, and the name in Script, so nicely done that if it could be reduced to ordinary writing size would look like copperplate. Waterfall, a small village near Waterhouses, is so called because the River Hamps disappears, as above sdivted, near there. In the old church there is a Norman arch in very line preservation, and memorial windows io the memory of Mr. Daniel Hall and the Towusend Family, worthy forefatb<vs of the Hamlet. ' In the church y:.rd there are four old graves close together, those buried belonging to the same family, and. yet all the names are spelt' differently.' Here is a copy of the inscriptions: "Bloor of Oauldon died 1700. Blower 1756. Blooer 1777, and Blore 1789." J'here 's also a gravestone inscribed "To the memory of Ann, 2nd wife of Mr. Green, daughter of George and Maiy Evan? died June 1, 1866." A friend informed ns that he believed she was sister to George Eliot, the famous novelist. On a very ancient dial there is engraved the following exhortation : "Reader, use well the precious moments as they fleet, Your life, however short, will be complete, If at its fata! oenod you can sav I've lived and made ilia anf-t of every day." Ashbourne: The chief object of inl'-r----est in this old-fashioned town is its Church of St. Oswald, the spire of which is 21.2 ft ! igh. It i« a »ery fine model, and is called "The Pride of the Peak." in the interior, which is very line, there are monuments to the Cockaynes and the Boothbys. One is of a little child reclining on a mattress—a beautiful piece of work. The .figure represents Penelope Boothby. aged six years. Sir Johua Reynolds painted her portrait in 1788, when she was three years old. She is represented wearing a white dress, dark belt, witli mittens on her hands, and wearing a mob cap. Sir John Millar's wellknown picture of "Cherry Ripe" was a portrait of a .Miss Talmago, dressed as Penelope. AsaboT'io Hall, lon eriy the residence of the Boothbys, is now an hotel. Prince Charlie, the Pretender, slept there in 1715, when marching to Derby. In the main street there is a quaint old inn called the "Given Man a: ■! Mock'' 11, ad. ' r Jhe large signboard projects across the street, where it is supported by a post. The scenery about Ashbourne is very pretty. It was in this district that the scenes of George Eliot's novel, "Adam Bode," were laid, the Oakbourne being Ashbourne. About a mile and a half from here is Mayfiokl Cottage, once the residence of Tom Moore, and where he wrote "Lnlla Rookh," and it .v:r. *.i esw ft ••' ; n ; u:<; bells of Ashbourne Church that inspired his well-known song "Those Evening Bells." Here is the last verse—- " And so 'twill be when T am gone, That tuneful peal will still ring on, While other bards shall walk these dells, And sing your praise, sweet evening bells."