Old Hampshire Mapped
Cobbett's Hampshire
Transcription (83)Andover
Romsey
turnpike road
Stockbridge
corn
sheep
downs
wheat
rye
sainfoin
vetch
turnip
grass
Test, River
Hurstbourne Tarrant
Bourne Rivulet
winter bourne
chalk
hills
Anton, River
trout
eel
LIKE a very great fool, I, out of senseless complaisance, waited, this morning, to breakfast with the friends, at whose house we slept last night, at Andover. We thus lost two hours of dry weather, and have been justly punished by about an hour's ride in the rain. I settled on LYNDHURST as the place to lodge at to-night; so we are here [Romsey], feeding our horses, drying our clothes, and writing the account of our journey. We came, as much as possible, all the way through the villages, and, almost all the way, avoided the turnpike roads. From ANDOVER to STOCKBRIDGE (about seven or eight miles) is, for the greatest part, an open corn and sheep country, a considerable portion of the land being downs. The wheat and rye and vetch and sainfoin fields look beautiful here; and, during the whole of the way from Andover to Rumsey, the early turnips of both kinds are not bad, and the stubble turnips very promising. The downs are green as meadows usually are in April. The grass is most abundant in all situations, where grass grows. From Stockbridge to Rumsey we came nearly by the river side, and had to cross the river several times. This, the RIVER TESTE, which, as I described, in my Ride of last November, begins at UPHUSBAND, by springs, bubbling up in March, out of the bed of that deep valley. It is at first a BOURNE, that is to say, a stream that runs only part of the year, and is, the rest of the year, as dry as a road. About 5 miles from this periodical source, it becomes a stream all the year round. After winding about between the chalk hills, for many miles, first in a general direction towards the south-east, and then in a similar direction towards the south-west and south, it is joined by the little stream that rises just above and that passes through, the town of Andover. It is, after this, joined by several other little streams, with names; and here, at Rumsey, it is a large and very fine river, famous, all the way down, for trout and eels, and both of the finest quality.
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