What to See in England Part 2

=Nearest Station.=--Epsom.

=Distance from London.=--14 miles.

=Average Time.=--3/4 hour.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 2s. 3d. 1s. 6d. 1s. 2d.

Return 3s. 0d. 2s. 6d. 2s. 2d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"King's Head," "Spread Eagle," etc.

One must choose any other than a race-day if one wishes to see the charming old town of Epsom at its best. But if, on the other hand, one wishes, to see something of the scene on the race-course depicted in Mr.

Frith's famous picture, one gets no suggestion of the great spectacle except on race-days. On these occasions, at the Spring meeting and during Derby week, one has merely to follow the great streams of humanity which converge on the downs from the roads from London and from the railway stations. On ordinary days the wide rolling downs are generally left alone to the health-giving breezes which blow over them.

In the town itself there is much to be seen of the seventeenth-century architecture a.s.sociated with the days of Epsom's fame as a watering-place. The wide portion of the High Street at once attracts one's notice, for with one or two exceptions its whole length is full of the quaintest of buildings with cream walls and mossy tiled roofs. The clock-tower was built in 1848, when it replaced a very simple old watch-house with a curious little tower rising from it. The "Spread Eagle" is one of the oldest of the Epsom inns; its irregular front and its position looking up the High Street make it more conspicuous than the "King's Head," an equally old and very interesting hostelry facing the clock-tower. Pepys stayed there in 1667, for in his diary of July 14 of that year he writes, "To Epsom, by eight o'clock, to the well; where much company. And to the towne to the King's Head; and hear that my Lord Buckhurst and Nelly (Gwynne) are lodged at the next house, and Sir Charles Sedley with them: and keep a merry house." This house, next to the "King's Head," is still standing. A little further along the street is the large red-brick building known to-day as Waterloo House. It was built about the year 1680, and was then known as the New Inn. The old banqueting-hall it contains is divided up now, for the building is converted into shops.

Durdans, the residence of Lord Rosebery, is about ten minutes' walk from the High Street. One can see the house and grounds from the narrow lane leading to the downs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HIGH STREET, EPSOM.

Showing one of the famous inns which flourished in the seventeenth century.]

EPPING FOREST

=How to get there.=--From Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street.

Great Eastern Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Theydon Bois. Other stations near the forest are Chingford, Loughton, and Epping.

=Distance from London.=--15 miles.

=Average Time.=--1 hour. Quickest train, 38 minutes.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 2s. 8d. 1s. 11d. 1s. 3-1/2d.

Return 3s. 9d. 2s. 11d. 1s. 11d.

Those who wish to ramble through Epping Forest off the beaten paths should carry a compa.s.s and a map, so that they do not merely keep in one section of the forest, and thus miss some of the tracts which are quite distinct in character to others. The best days during the summer for having the glades to one's self are Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, but during the winter the whole place is left to the keepers and the feathered inhabitants of the forest. During spring and autumn one also finds that the gra.s.sy walks are left almost entirely alone, and at these periods the forest is at its very best. Those who have only visited it in the height of summer, when the foliage is perhaps drooping a little, when the birds are not singing, and when there are traces of more than one picnic party, have no idea of the true beauty of the forest. A herd of deer are allowed to breed in the wilder and less frequented portions if the forest, and these add much to the charm of some of the umbrageous by-paths when one suddenly disturbs a quietly grazing group. Queen Elizabeth's hunting lodge, which adjoins the Forest Hotel at Chingford, is a restored three-storied and much gabled building, constructed of plastered brickwork and framed with oak. It seems that the building originally had no roof, but merely an open platform, from which one could obtain a good comprehensive view of any sport going on in the vicinity. The lodge has now been made the home of a museum of objects of antiquity discovered in the forest. The special points of Epping Forest which should be included in a long day's ramble are Connaught Water, a lake near Chingford; High Beach, an elevated portion of the forest possessing some splendid beeches; the earthwork known as Loughton Camp, which probably belongs to pre-Roman times, and Ambresbury Banks, towards Epping. This camp is said to have been the last fortress of the Britons under Boadicea. From here they are believed to have marched against the Romans to receive the crus.h.i.+ng defeat inflicted upon them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GLADE AMONG THE BEECHES IN EPPING FOREST.]

HAMPTON COURT

=How to get there.=--South-Western Railway. Waterloo Station.

=Nearest Station.=--Hampton Court.

=Distance from London.=--15 miles.

=Average Time.=--3/4 hour.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 2s. 0d. 1s. 6d. 1s. 2-1/2d.

Return 2s. 9d. 2s. 0d. 1s. 10d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"Castle Hotel," "Mitre Hotel," "The King's Arms Hotel," "Greyhound Hotel," etc.

=Alternative Route.=--By steamboats from London Bridge, etc., during the summer months.

Within a few hundred yards of the Hampton Court station on the London and South-Western Railway stands the magnificent palace of Hampton Court, originally erected by Cardinal Wolsey for his own residence, and after his sudden downfall appropriated by his ungrateful master Henry VIII. for his private use and property.

The approach from the station lies through a pair of finely designed wrought-iron gates to the north frontage of the palace, erected by Wolsey himself. This front is all in the fine red-brick architecture of the period, with quaint gables, small mullioned windows, and a collection of moulded and twisted red-brick chimneys of wonderfully varied designs. The entrance through the gatehouse, flanked by two towers, is under a ma.s.sive Tudor gateway, and leads into an inner quadrangle and thence into a second court, both of the same picturesque character. In these inner courts are the suites of rooms given as residences by royal favour, and on the left-hand side is Wolsey's great banqueting-hall, with a magnificent open timber roof.

The southern and eastern portions, with the Fountain Court and the splendid frontage to the gardens, were designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and form one of the best examples of his work. In this part of the building are the picture galleries, containing a priceless collection of works, comprising Sir Peter Lely's Beauties of King Charles II.'s time, valuable specimens of Holbein, Kneller, West, Jansen, Vandyck, Reynolds, and other masters, and seven wonderful cartoons by Raphael.

The splendidly kept gardens, about 44 acres in extent, are still very much as they were in the time of William III. Hampton Court "Maze" is one of the most intricate in the country.

The palace, grounds, and picture galleries are open to the public daily, free, except on Fridays; summer, 10 to 6; winter, 10 to 4. Sundays, summer, 2 to 6; winter, 2 to 4.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EAST SIDE OF THE CLOCK TOWER, HAMPTON COURT.]

RYE HOUSE, BROXBOURNE

=How to get there.=--Train from Liverpool Street. Great Eastern Rly.

=Nearest Station.=--Broxbourne (quite close to Rye House).

=Distance from London.=--17 miles.

=Average Time.=--50 minutes. Quickest train, 39 minutes.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 3s. 3d. 2s. 3d. 1s. 6d. } reduced during Return 4s. 9d. 3s. 6d. 2s. 6d. } summer months.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--Rye House has been converted into an hotel.

Rye House stands close to the banks of the river Lea, and is now perhaps more of a resort than some would wish it to be, for it has been altered from a manor-house into an hotel. It has not, however, quite lost its picturesqueness, as one will see from the ill.u.s.tration given here, and within one may see the fine old dining-hall and the famous "Great bed of Ware," large enough, it is said, to contain twelve people! The historical interest which attaches itself to Rye House, though well known, may be briefly given here. It was in 1683 the scene of a plot, in Charles II.'s reign, to a.s.sa.s.sinate the king and his brother the Duke of York, afterwards James II., on their way to London from Newmarket.

Charles, though restored to the throne, was giving great dissatisfaction to many in the country. Though professedly a Protestant, it was well known that his leanings were towards Roman Catholicism, and his brother the Duke of York was an avowed Catholic. Then it was discovered that Charles had been receiving a pension from Louis XIV. of France, on condition that this country did not go to war with the French, an arrangement which was most humiliating to the English people. The nation was thoroughly alarmed, and at the next meeting of Parliament the Commons brought in a bill to exclude the Duke of York from ever coming to the throne. Many of the leading Whigs, including Lord William Russell, Algernon Sidney, and the Earl of Ess.e.x, formed a confederacy.

It has never been proved that they ever meant the country to rise against the king, but unfortunately, just at the same time, some bolder and fiercer spirits of the Whig party determined to kill both Charles and James at the lonely Rye House belonging to Rumbolt. The plot failed from the fact that the house which the king occupied at Newmarket accidentally caught fire, and Charles was obliged to leave Newmarket a week sooner than was expected. This conspiracy as well as the meetings of the Whig party were betrayed to the king's ministers. Russell was beheaded in 1683, and Sidney shared the same fate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RYE HOUSE.

The scene of the famous Rye House Plot in 1683.]

HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTS

=How to get there.=--From King's Cross. Great Northern Railway.

=Nearest Station.=--Hatfield.

=Distance from London.=--17-3/4 miles.

=Average Time.=--35 minutes.

1st 2nd 3rd =Fares.=--Single 2s. 6d. ... 1s. 5-1/2d.

Return 5s. 0d. ... 2s. 11d.