| Old Hampshire Mapped |
| Cobbett's HampshireTranscription (48) |
|
1825, October-November |
previous FROM WINCHESTER TO BURGHCLERE. [October-November 1825][with his son Richard?] |
|
Winchester turnpike road Sutton Scotney Whitchurch Basingstoke Kings Worthy downs race course church water meadow woods corn Young, Arthur Alton Wey, Northern hops |
WE had, or I had, resolved not to breakfast at Winchester
yesterday: and yet we were detained till nearly noon. But, at
last off we came, fasting. The turnpike road from Winchester to
this place [Burghclere] comes through a village, called SUTTON
SCOTNEY, and then through WHITCHURCH, which lies on the Andover
and London road, through Basingstoke. We did not take the
cross-turnpike till we came to Whitchurch. We went to King's
Worthy; that is, about two miles on the road from Winchester to
London; and then, turning short to our left, came up upon the
downs to the north of Winchester race-course. Here, looking
back at the city and at the fine valley above and below it, and
at the many smaller valleys that run down from the high ridges
into that great and fertile valley, I could not help admiring
the taste of the ancient kings, who made this city (which once
covered all the hill round about, and which contained 92
churches and chapels) a chief place of their residence. There
are not many finer spots in England; and if I were to take in a
circle of eight or ten miles of semi-diameter, I should say that
I believe there is not one so fine. Here are hill, dell, water,
meadows, woods, corn-fields, downs; and all of them very fine
and very beautifully disposed. ... ... Arthur Young calls the
vale between Farnham and Alton the finest ten miles in England.
Here is a river with fine meadows on each side of it, and with
rising grounds on each outside of the meadows, those grounds
having some hop-gardens and some pretty woods. ... a country
where high downs prevail, with here and there a large wood on
the top or the side of a hill, and where you see, in the deep
dells, here and there a farm-house, and here and there a
village, the buildings sheltered by a group of lofty trees. next |
 
| Cobbett's Hampshire 1830, contents |
| General index (to Old Hampshire Mapped) |
|
| Old Hampshire Mapped |