Читать книгу The Motor Routes of England: Western Section - Gordon Home - Страница 13

(Trunk) No. 2. DUNSTABLE TO ATHERSTONE.

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Shortly after leaving Dunstable a long, easy descent of the northern slope of the Dunstable Downs occurs, these hills being part of the Chilterns. A fine view over a large part of Bucks and Beds is seen in front, and an interesting sweep of the Downs behind. A number of sleepy little villages occur, each presenting rural features of its own in harmony with the surroundings. At Hockliffe a side-road leads to the beautiful Woburn Park and Abbey. At Fenny Stratford, a small town chiefly consisting of one street, the Roman station of Magiovintum was situated, and coins and other remains are frequently found; the only modern association appears to be connected with Browne Willis, the antiquary, who is buried here. The church is early Georgian, dating from 1724. Seven miles farther on, Stony Stratford, a small uninteresting town, is reached, known chiefly in history through having had an Eleanor Cross, which disappeared in Puritan days, and also from the capture of Edward V. by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. Bradwell Abbey, founded in 1155, now a farmhouse, lies about three miles away to the right.

From Stony Stratford to Towcester the route runs as straight as an arrow, and one can imagine the metalled track of the road the legions tramped lying but a few feet beneath the surface. Towcester is the ancient Lactodorum, and the later Tove Castra, or Camp on the River Tove, which flows through the town. Few, if any, Roman remains are now visible, and Easton Neston House with its picturesque park is the only feature of interest in the neighbourhood.

The road to Weedon is somewhat undulating, and rises in places to 500 feet above sea-level, an altitude which has not been reached since leaving Dunstable. At Weedon it is necessary to make a detour to the left, as the Watling Street for some considerable distance has been allowed to fall into disrepair; in fact, it is merely in some cases a trackway through grassy fields, with farmers' gates across the vanished road. The restoration of this part of the Roman way has been proposed at times, but never carried out, the considerable cost and the paucity of towns and villages probably accounting for it. This gap in continuity is to be deplored for sentimental reasons, but not for practical utility, as the track is at times more than undulating.

DAVENTRY

Daventry is a small town possessing but few attractions beyond its historic hotel, the Wheat Sheaf, built in 1610, and known in the annals of Warwickshire as the resting-place of Charles I. (after the taking of Leicester) for six consecutive days in 1645, the Royal troops, both horse and foot, in considerable numbers occupying the surrounding fields. The regal bedchamber may be seen and even occupied, while the courtyard, famous in duelling days, is visible from its window. In one encounter in 1696 a young ensign, named Gardner, gasped out his life after a duel to the death with his lieutenant. Near Daventry lies Althorp Park, the seat of Earl Spencer. In this medieval house, not greatly altered since, James I. and William III. were entertained.

On leaving Daventry the road turns sharply to the right to Kilsby, with a poor surface most of the way. It passes through a well-wooded country, and a short distance beyond Kilsby joins the Watling Street at an acute angle. Upon looking backwards, the line of the ancient highway may be distinctly traced through the fields. From this point until Atherstone is reached, a distance of nearly twenty-three miles, Leicestershire lies upon the right-hand side of the road and Warwickshire upon the left.

Dunsmore Heath is then crossed, and shortly afterwards two lines of railway are passed, the source of the Warwickshire Avon being near the first at Dove Bridge. At Churchover is the birthplace of Cave, of Gentleman's Magazine fame. The main road from Rugby to Lutterworth branches off to the right. Near this point, on the brow of the hill, just north-west of Cave's Inn and on both sides of the Watling Street, is the site of the great Roman station Tripontium. The remains have almost disappeared, but pieces of pottery are plentiful, and coins are now and then unearthed.

RUGBY

lies a few miles to the west of the main route, and is famous for its great school, founded in 1567, being one of the four great public schools in England. The buildings are chiefly in the Tudor style, and date from 1808, with many subsequent additions. Besides the school, there are practically no objects of interest in the town. The road to Lutterworth is slightly undulating, with a good surface.

LUTTERWORTH

is a quiet little country town of about 2,000 inhabitants, lying in a pastoral district fissured occasionally with wooded valleys. It is a typical foxhunting centre. The main street descends a hill somewhat abruptly, and crosses a small bridge over the River Swift, from which point the ashes of Wycliffe were scattered. The church is endeared to the champions of Protestantism by its associations with Wycliffe, and by the tangible relics which are preserved in it of his residence here from 1375 to 1384. The architecture of the church is chiefly of the fourteenth century. The nave is early Perpendicular, but a Decorated window occupies the end of the south aisle, where there was formerly a Lady Chapel. The chancel also is Perpendicular, with an Early English window and door. It is thus somewhat difficult to point out work which belongs to that period when Wycliffe ministered in the building. The greater part of the nave, however, may be thus assigned, and also the fresco over the north doorway, showing a queen between two kings. Over the chancel arch is another fresco. The nave roof is Perpendicular, but the pulpit, from which the reformer preached, is the great object of interest, dating as it does from a period anterior to Wycliffe's incumbency, and is thus over 500 years old. A fragment of a cope or chasuble is interesting as an undoubted relic, but the chair, table, and wooden candlesticks must be regarded with suspicion—the chair more than the others. The 'Morning Star of the Reformation' was buried in the chancel, where his remains rested for thirty years; they were then dug up, burnt, and cast into the river.

The road from Lutterworth, rejoining the Watling Street, emerges at the Cross-in-Hand, where care must be taken in the selection of the right road. From Cross-in-Hand to High Cross there is nothing of particular moment, but at the latter place, where five roads meet, was one of the most important junctions of Roman highways for the Watling Street. It is crossed here by the Foss Way coming from Gloucester, and leading through Leicester to Lincoln. The great station of Venonæ or Benones was situated here, but has entirely disappeared. Taking the road marked 'To Holyhead,' the road leads over Smockington Hill, and a few miles farther on a turning on the left to Nuneaton (two miles off the main road) is reached.

Nuneaton lies in the centre of the 'George Eliot' country, and is the Milverton of the novelist, while Chilvers Coton near it figures in 'Scenes of Clerical Life,' and 'Oldinport' may be traced in 'Newdegate,' the family name of the residents at Arbury Hall, a delightfully situated country-seat a few miles to the south-west of the town. Beyond this Nuneaton possesses no special features, except a church built in the Decorated period, and another—St. Mary's—a modern replica of the Abbey Church which formerly occupied the site.

The spire of Hinckley Church is now seen upon the right, six miles to the north of which lies the Battlefield of Bosworth. The North Warwickshire Coalfield has now been reached, and in the high ground upon the left there is an interesting geological district. The stone quarries worked there were formerly supposed to produce Millstone Grit of the Carboniferous formation, but which has recently been proved to be pre-Cambrian, and necessarily the most ancient of rocks. Hartshill is in this district; it is the birthplace of Michael Drayton, and contains a few ruins of a Norman castle dating from 1125. To the right of the Watling Street lies Fenny Drayton, where George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, was born. Before entering Atherstone the small village of Witherley is passed upon the right, and the River Anker here divides the site of the great Roman station of Manduessedum into two parts. The name has been anglicized into Mancetter. The oblong earthwork yet remains, about 630 feet long and 440 feet broad. The church stands on the ruins of the western side of the camp. Many coins have been found here, and great masses of Roman masonry lie beneath the soil. The summer camps lie upon the adjacent hills. The first turning on the left, after passing the bridge, leads in a few minutes to Mancetter Manor House, originally built in 1135, and presenting a quaint Edwardian appearance at the present day. In 1432 the Glovers occupied it, one of whom suffered martyrdom in the Marian persecution.

ATHERSTONE,

a singularly uninteresting looking town, whose staple manufacture is felt hats, has a long, straggling street, a portion of the Watling Street, and during sewage operations about fifty years ago the remains of the original Roman road came to light, at some depth below the present surface; some of the paving-stones, grooved by chariot wheels, were in places cemented together. Henry of Richmond slept at the Three Tuns Inn, now demolished, the night before Bosworth Battle, and heard Mass in the church, which is not of great archæological interest.