Bagshot Heath
Bagshot Heath (Surrey)Period - 18th century, early
From Farnham ... coach-road, over Bagshot-Heath ... in passing this heath, in a windy day, I was so far in danger of smothering with the clouds of sand, which were raised by the storm, that I cou'd neither keep it out of my mouth, nose or eyes; and when the wind was over, the sand appear'd spread over the adjacent fields of the forest some miles distant, so as that it ruins the very soil. This sand indeed is check'd by the heath, or heather, which grows in it, and which is the common product of barren land, ... but the ground is otherwise so poor and barren, that the product of it feeds no creatures, but some very small sheep, who feed chiefly on the said heather, but very few of these, nor are there any villages, worth mentioning, and but few houses, or people for many miles far and wide; this desart lyes ... in the three counties of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire; besides a great quantity of land, almost as bad as that between Godalming and Petersfield, on the road to Portsmouth, including some hills, call'd the Hind Head and others.
Thro' this desart ... we come into the great western road leading from London to Salisbury, Exeter, &c. ...
...
... from whence [Chertsey] crossing the Black Desert, as I call'd it, of Bagshot-Heath, I directed my course for Hampshire, or Hantshire,
