Bradshaw’s Descriptive Railway Hand-Book

OMNIBUSES to and from the station; to Epsom station several times daily; to Brighton and London thrice weekly.

DORKING is situated in a valley near the river Mole, nearly surrounded with hills, and commands some of the finest views in the kingdom. This town is of considerable antiquity, and so conveniently situated that it carries on a large trade in flour and corn, and employs several mills on the Mole. The church is a fine old edifice and contains several handsome monuments. It is celebrated for its poultry, particularly for a five-toed breed, called Dorkings, supposed to have been introduced by the Romans. It is a favourite summer resort of invalids and lovers of rural scenery, and it would be difficult to name any place better calculated for both classes, as the salubrity of the air and the beauty of the surrounding country cannot be surpassed or equalled within so short a distance of the metropolis. There are several very beautiful countryseats, villas, and mansions around the town, too numerous, however, to be enumerated in our pages.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

GOMSHALL and SHEIRE.

Sheire was the residence of Bray, the antiquarian, who edited Evelyn’s Memoirs. In the immediate vicinity is Abinger Hall (2 miles), the seat of Lord Abinger. Netley Place (1 ½ mile). Albury Park (1 ½ mile). Near which is Newland’s Corner, from hich a most extensive prospect may be obtained.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

CHILWORTH.

On an eminence in the vicinity, and towards the south, is St. Martha’s ancient chapel. Chilworth Manor is the property of Godwin Austin, Esq.

SHALFORD.

Half a mile from the station is the village, near which is Shalford House, the demesne of Sir Henry Austin, whose mansion is embellished with some fine specimens of carved wood, and a collection of good paintings by the old masters.

GUILDFORD.

CARRIERS to London (twice weekly); also to Ash, Albury, Alford, Loxwood, Rudgwick, Bookham, Effingham, Bisley, Knaphill, Bramley, Chichester, Midhurst, Haslemere, Chiddingfold, Cranley, Dunsfold, Ewhurst, Frimley, Godalming, Huscomb, Horshell, Woking, Kidford, Chobham, Liphook, Petersfield, Petwerth, Pulborough, Ripley, Send, Sheire, Wisborough Green, Wonersh, Worplesdon, Pirbright.

The situation of this town on the banks of the Wey, and spreading over the steep hill as it rises from the side of the river, is particularly picturesque. It consists of a principal street, nearly a mile long from the bridge on the west to Stoke on the east, whence several smaller streets extend into the suburbs.

Guildford Castle is supposed to have been built as early as the time of the Anglo-Saxon kings. The principal part now remaining is the keep, of a quadrangular form, rising to the height of 70 feet, and built on an artificial mound of earth. Admission may be had free on application to the proprietor of a school adjoining the castle grounds.

Two miles to the eastward of the town is a fine circular race-course. The roads in the neighbourhood are extremely picturesque—that from Guildford to Faranham in particular, running along a ridge of high chalk hills, and thus commanding an extensive prospect. The trade of the town is considerable, from its central situation and convenient distance from the metropolis. The guild or town-hall and the corn market are handsome buildings.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

ASH.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

The line now diverges or turns more towards the north, to ALDERSHOTT station (North Camp), and thence to FARNBOROUGH, about a mile from the station of the same name on the South Western line, see page 76 .

BLACKWATER.

A mile further is SANDHURST Royal Military College, situated to the right of the line, in the centre of a fine park. Peculiar interest attaches to this establishment, from the fact of its being the school where some of our ablest military men have acquired that rudimentary education which they have afterwards turned to such good practical account in the field.

WOKINGHAM.

Wokingham is situated on the River Wey, on the borders of Windsor Forest. The town consists of three streets, with a handsome new Town Hall (modern Gothic) and Market Place in the centre. The Parish Church is picturesque, and undergoing restoration. A new church is also being built by J. Walter, Esq., proprietor of the Times. The railways have given considerable impetus to trade here, and house property has become valuable.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

From this station the railway passes over a level but highly cultivated country, interspersed with villages and country-seats, until it reach the terminus at

Reading, for the description of which and other information, see Section II ., page 4 .

South Eastern Main Line continued.

Reigate to Tunbridge.

On leaving Reigate, the railway turns off towards the south-east, past the village of Nutfield, a short distance beyond which is Bletchingly, both situated on a range of hills. Bletchingley church is a handsome building containing several fine monuments—and there are the remains of a castle in the neighbourhood.

A little further on, the line passes through Bletchingley Tunnel, and shortly after the train reaches

GODSTONE.

The name of the village adjacent is derived from a corruption of “good stone,” significant of the excellence of the quarries there worked. There was formerly a mineral spring of some repute a short distance from Godstone. The parks and mansions in this neighbourhood are much admired, and from some of the hills there are beautiful views of the surrounding country of Surrey and Kent. Tandridge and Limpsfield are pretty villages, about two miles distant.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

Passing over Stafford’s Wood Common, the line now traverses a fine and open country, entering the county of Kent at a spot bearing the diminutive cognomen of “Little Browns.” The intervening miles are rapidly left behind, and we again pause for a few brief minutes at Edenbridge, the first station in the county of

KENT.

This county forms the south-eastern extremity of the island of Great Britain, bounded on the north by the Thames; on the east and south-east by the German Ocean and the Straits of Dover; on the south-west by the English Channel and county of Sussex; and on the west by that of Surrey.

From the diversity of its surface, the noble rivers by which it is watered, the richness and variety of its inland scenery, and the more sublime beauties of its sea coast, this county may be said to rank among the most interesting portions of our island; while the numerous remains of antiquity, the splendid cathedrals, venerable castles, and mouldering monastic edifices, are connected with some of the most remarkable events in English history.

Two chains of hills, called the Upper and Lower, run through the middle of the county from east to west, generally about eight miles asunder; the northern range is part of the extensive ridge which runs through Hampshire and Surrey to Dover, where it terminates in the well known white cliffs. Beyond the southern or lower range is what is called the Weald of Kent, a large tract of rich and fertile land. Kent is essentially and almost solely an agricultural county. The Isle of Thanet is remarkably fertile, but in the Isle of Sheppey only one-fifth of the land is arable; the rest consists of marsh and pasture land, and is used for breeding and fattening sheep and cattle.

The Thames, the Medway, the Stour, the Rother, and the Darent are the principal rivers; while numerous small streams diffuse fertility in every direction.

EDENBRIDGE.

The village of Edenbridge, situated 1 mile from the station, derives its name from the little river Eden. one of the tributary streams of the Medway. There are several chalybeate springs in the neighbourhood. The church of Edenbridge is a fine ancient edifice, containing several handsome tombs; also a curious monument of the Earl of Wiltshire. A few miles distant is the village of Westerham; and a short distance south of the line is

Hever Castle, once the residence of the unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn. The castle was erected in the reign of Edward III. by William de Hean. It subsequently fell into the hands of the Cobhams, who disposed of it to Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a rich mercer of London, and great grandfather of the unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn. It is still an imposing building, and many of the rooms present the same appearance as during the happy visits of Henry VIII Various shields, with the arms and alliances of the Boleyn family, are displayed on the windows. The castle is still inhabited; it is surrounded by a moat, the entrance embattled and defended by a drawbridge and portcullis. Anne of Cleves died here in 1557.

The village of Chiddingstone, near Hever, is one of the prettiest in the county, and the whole district is remarkable for most beautiful scenery.

The neighbourhood here begins to get thronged with objects of attraction sufficient to draw the tourist from his main route.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

From Edenbridge station to the next, there are a succession of agreeable prospects, diversified by a few impediments to a good view in the form of an intervening cutting.

PENSHURST.

This is a small but exceedingly pretty village, celebrated for its fine old castle, the property of the Sidney family. This noble structure stands in a magnificent park, and covers a large area with its court, halls, and quadrangles. It also contains a valuable collection of paintings, which visitors, by the kindness of the noble owner, are permitted to view.

South Park, the seat and property of the late Lord Hardinge, is two miles distant towards the south, and a few miles in the opposite direction in the north is the beautiful village of Seven Oaks, containing Knowle Park, the seat of the Sackvilles — a most picturesque place. The mansion is built in the old English style of architecture, castellated and with square towers. Knowle Mansion and Park form one of the most splendid seats in the kingdom. The collection of paintings is also very fine, and particularly rich in works of the great Italian masters.

Wilderness, the seat of the Marquis of Camden, about two miles beyond Seven Oaks, is a more modern mansion, but most beautifully situated.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION :—

A few miles more, in the course of which we thrice cross the winding Medway, brings us to

TUNBRIDGE.

Situated on the Tun and four branches of the Medway, all crossed by bridges. It is noted for its excellent Grammar School with sixteen exhibitions. The castle, of which a fine noble gateway flanked by round towers still remains, was built by Richard Fitz Gilbert, Earl of Clare and Hertford, who likewise founded a priory here for Augustine Canons, the refectory of which may be seen. Open on Saturdays from 10 till 4, by permission of the proprietor.

This, besides being the branch station for passengers to Tunbridge Wells, has a convenient refreshment-room appended.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS AND HASTINGS BRANCH.

Tunbridge Junction to Hastings.

The railway commences through a series of deep cuttings, and then proceeds through a tunnel of considerable length. The strata on each side of the line is composed of ironstone and sand-stone, diversified with clay, in a manner quite peculiar to the county.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

This town is, with the exception of Bath, the most ancient of the inland watering places. Nature has eminently favoured it by the salubrity of its air, the potency of its mineral springs, and the adjacent appendages of romantic and agreeable scenery. Dudley Lord North, a young nobleman of the Court of James I., whilst on a visit to Eridge House, happened to taste the waters, and these renovating a constitution impaired by too much indulgence, caused him to bring the place into fashionable repute. From that time visitors gradually increased, streets were laid out, lodging-houses built, and now, though the caprice of fashion has somewhat depreciated the fame of our own spas, Tunbridge Wells may still boast a large share of patronage in the season, which extends from May till November. The town is built upon a sandy soil, and is divided into five districts, called respectively Mount Ephraim, Mount Pleasant, Mount Sion, the Wells, and the Sew, at the latter of which a new church (St. John’s) has been built. The town has been much modernised of late years, the Parade alone evincing any symptoms of antiquity. The houses are chiefly detached villas, with lawns in front, and large gardens in the rear. Those that are situated on the mounts have extensive views, that combine hill and dale, forests and fields, commons, meadows, and corn lands, with a large tract of hop-grounds. The drinking springs rise at the end of the Parade, close to the Post Office, which has a row of trees on one side, and a colonnade with shops on the other. The water is a strong chalybeate, and possesses great tonic power, but ought not to be taken without medical advice. A band plays three times a day on the Parade in the season, from July until November. The ex-queen of the French visits the town annually, but the usual gaieties have long since declined. The climate is congenial, and the air upon the downs has a fine bracing and exhilarating property. There is almost perfect immunity from fog, and being sheltered from the north-east winds by the north downs, the temperature throughout the winter is pleasant and equable. The inns and boarding-houses are generally of a superior description. There are billiard rooms on the Parade and at the Castle Hotel, and photographs at Woods, Mount Ephraim. The manufacture of wooden toys and articles of domestic use, long celebrated as “Tunbridge Ware,” is still carried on here to a considerable extent, and was formerly the principal produce of the place. Tunbridge Common is a most delightful resort in the summer; the old race course, still exists, but it is not used; a new cricket ground has been made where many great matches are held. The old chapel has a sun dial with the following inscription: “You may waste but cannot stop me.”

Excursions may be made to the Eridge Rocks, about a mile and a half south-west of the town; they are of considerable height, surrounded with wood, and much admired by visitors; Wednesday and Thursday. Eridge Park, the property of Lord Abergavenny, is one of the most delightful walks in the vicinity: start from the Parade, and proceed along the Frant road, branching off through the woods to the right; Penshurst, five miles distant, Penshurst Place, a quadrangular building of the Elizabethan style of architecture, Monday and Saturday; Crowborough Common, at the Beacon, seven miles from the Wells, stands at an elevation of 800 feet above the level of the sea; Eridge Castle, two miles distant; Hever, seven miles distant; Southborough, two and a half miles, at which there is a noble cricket ground, in great request among the clubs of the neighbourhood, there is also a smaller one on Southborough Common; Summerkill, two miles, a fine Elizabethan building, once the residence of the Earl of Leicester and General Lambert; Oxenheath, four miles; and Bayham Abbey, the seat of the Marquis of Camden, six miles distant, the ruins being exceedingly picturesque. The modern mansion is in the Gothic style. Tuesday and Friday, the High Rocks, Brambletye Ruins, and Toad Rock. There are other fine seats and handsome villas in the vicinity, and the environs of Tunbridge abound in beautiful walks and drives.

From Tunbridge Wells the railway proceeds southward, and enters the county of Sussex, passing through a short tunnel at starting, and then proceeds through a deep cutting

FRANT.

A short distance from this station is Eridge Castle, the demesne of the Earl of Abergavenny, situated in a noble park, well stocked with deer. There are several handsome villas in the neighbourhood, the scenery of which is exceedingly varied, and some of the views of the country around are both extensive and beautiful.

Between Frant and Robertsbridge the scenery becomes less picturesque, though the country is highly cultivated, and the hop-grounds are particularly fine. Near the Wadhurst station there is rather a long tunnel, and the church of Wadhurst is worthy a visit.

WADHURST.

TICEHURST ROAD.

Ticehurst is rather a large town, situated on high ground, about three miles and a half to the east of the station, in the midst of a splendid agricultural country.

ETCHINGHAM.

The church at Etchingham is a fine old edifice, reputed to be one of the best specimens of Norman architecture in the country.

The stations at Frant, Etchingham, and Battle are built in the Gothic character; those at Wadhurst, Ticehurst Road, and Robertsbridge are in the Italian style, of red and white brick and Caen stone.

ROBERTSBRIDGE.

The village is situated on the banks of the river Rother, and only remarkable for the houses being constructed of red brick, which gives the place a peculiar appearance.

BATTLE.

MARKET DAY. —The second Monday in each month. FAIRS. —Whit Monday and November 22nd,

This town was formerly called Epiton, and received its present name from being the spot on which the Saxons, under Harold, were defeated by William, the Duke of Normandy, in 1066. After the contest the Conqueror founded a magnificent abbey to commemorate his victory, and the high altar in the church is said to have stood on the very spot where the body of the heroic Saxon prince was found. The noble gateway of the abbey has a fine effect when seen from the town. In the abbey was formerly preserved the celebrated Battle Abbey Roll, which formed a list of those families which came over from Normandy with the Duke.

The mingled scene of hill and dale, wood and village, presents one of those fair spots in nature which refresh the traveller, who, hurrying through tunnel and cutting, to annihilate time and space, too often disregards the beauty of the country through which he passes.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

ST. LEONARDS STATION,

HASTINGS.

The recognised salubrity and mildness of the air, together with the openness of the coast and the smoothness of the beach, have long made Hastings a favourite and a recommended resort. The shore is not abrupt, and the water almost always limpid, and of that beautiful sea-green hue so inviting to bathers. The constant surging of the waves, first breaking against the reefs, and next dashing over the sloping shingle, is not unwelcome music at midnight to the ears of all who sleep in the vicinity of the shore. Dr. James Clark states, that in winter Hastings is most desirable as a place of residence during January and February. “During the spring also it has the advantage of being more effectually sheltered from north and north-east winds than any other place frequented by invalids on the coast of Sussex. It is also comparatively little subject to fogs in the spring, and the fall of rain may be said at that time to be less than on other portions of the coast. As might be expected from the low and sheltered situation of Hastings, it will be found a favourable residence generally to invalids suffering under diseases of the chest. Delicate persons, who desire to avoid exposure to the north-east winds, may pass the cold season here with advantage. Owing to the close manner in which this place is hemmed in on the sea by steep and high cliffs, it has an atmosphere more completely marine than almost any other part of this coast, with the exception, of course, of St. Leonards, which possesses the same dry and absorbent soil.” The breadth and extent of its esplanade, also, and the protection afforded by the colonnades for walking exercise, are circumstances of considerable importance to the invalid, and render a conjoined residence at Hastings and St. Leonards a very efficient substitute for a trip to Madeira.

The Castle of Hastings, for a time the favourite residence of the Conqueror, has remained a mass of magnificent ruins; its towers, bastions, and ancient walls forming an object truly picturesque, as seen from any point of view, but looking even grand in their sombre desolation, as meeting the eye of the pedestrian when ascending the eminence leading to Fairlight Downs.

A few years back the visitors to the castle were shown two coffins, a small one and a larger one, which they were assured contained the ashes of a mother and infant. These have been lately removed, and the space of ground enclosed by the walls which used to shelter such vestiges of a more barbarous age is now employed by a market gardener to administer to the culinary wants of the townsfolk of Hastings and St. Leonards.

The approach to Hastings Castle is from the further extremity of Wellington Square, and, with the perpendicular cliff that fronts the sea for its base, the outer walls appear originally to have had the form of a triangle with rounded angles. For some time past the interior has been laid out as a flower garden and shrubbery, and the person who has charge of the lodge accommodates, for a small fee, visitors with seats and refreshments. The view, though not equal to that from Fairlight Downs, is varied and extensive, and commands towards the south an ample marine expanse, whilst Beachy Head, East-bourne, and Bexhill may be seen towards the west.

Whilst in the neighbourhood, it should not be forgotten that a delightful excursion may be made to Battle Abbey, not more than six miles distant. The grounds are now in possession of the Webster family, whohaveliberally thrown them open to public inspection every Friday, at 1½ p.m. It is here that the “Battel Roll,” a sort of primitive “Court Guide,” is carefully preserved, and furnishes a list valuable to the antiquary and historian of those families who came over with William the Conqueror.

A glance into the booksellers’ windows, where engraved vignettes of some neighbouring attraction allure the eye in every direction, will at once reveal to the visitor the tempting beauty of the environs. A week may be delightfully spent in exploring the fairy-like nooks about Fairlight alone. Situated in a sweet umbrageous spot, down which, by narrow winding steps, hewn out of the solid rock, one only can descend at a time, is the weeping rock. The view of this constantly-dripping well, as the spectator looks up to the jutting rock from the beautiful cottage of Covehurst below, is well calculated to inspire the mind with that feeling under which credence would be given to any legend that accounted for this freak of nature, by ascribing it to the influence of supernatural agency. The stone weeps, as it were, from myriads of pores, and, although the water falls in continuous drops, no trace of it is left in the reservoir; passing through the rock, its appearance is as mysterious as its disappearance is magical. It is explained by the soil beneath being loose and sandy, over a heavy beach stone foundation, and, acting as a subterraneous drain, the water is conducted beneath the surface, appearing as a truculent stream about a hundred yards from the rock, and then again disappearing down a declivity. The beautiful appearance the rock presents in winter, when the drip is frozen and the icicles hang from the sloping crags in clusters of crystals, will not be easily forgotten by those who have had the good fortune to witness, at this period, such a mimic stalactite cavern.

Then, in the vicinity of the well are the fish-ponds with romantic walks around it, and a comfortable farm-house adjacent, where refreshments can be had at a small cost, and where the ale is—but we forbear our eloquence. The picturesque waterfall of Old Roar should not be overlooked, nor the Lover’s Seat, so charmingly enthroned amid shrubs and ever-greens, nor the other favoured localities, which are enough to make a Pennsylvanian lawyer turn poetical. Let the pedestrian, however, make his way to the signal house belonging to the coast-guard station at that point, and he will have a panoramic view around him which it would be worth his while walking from Cornhill to Grand Cairo only to behold and then walk back again.

The whole forms a complete circle; the sweep of inland scenery extending to the hills in the neighbourhood of London, and the sea view reaching from Beachy Head to Dover Cliffs, between seventy and eighty miles apart, and stretching out to the heights of Boulogne. The entire area of the prospect, both by land and water, cannot be less than three hundred miles. Among many minor objects visible may be enumerated ten towns, sixty-six churches, seventy martello towers, five ancient castles, three bays, and forty windmills. The best time for seeing it is the afternoon, when the setting sun lights up the old town of Hastings in the foreground, and brings into strong shadow the opposite coast of France. Upon favourable atmospheric influences it is, indeed, a view never to be forgotten.

South Eastern Main Line continued.

Tunbridge to Paddock Wood.

On leaving Tunbridge, the line passes through the beautiful park of Summerhill, the property of Baron de Goldschmidt, and thence, on past the villages of Tudely and Capel to the

PADDOCK WOOD JUNCTION.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

MAIDSTONE BRANCH.

Paddock Wood to Maidstone.

The branch to Maidstone from Paddock Wood follows the course of the Medway throughout, and enables the traveller to snatch some rapid glimpses of a woody country, presenting the true characteristics of a Kentish landscape. On each side of us we find the land studded with substantial homesteads and wealthy looking farms, rising in the midst of corn fields or orchards, or surrounded by the British vineyards, the Kentish hop-grounds.

YALDING.

The village of Yalding is not remarkable for anything of interest to the traveller. A short distance from it are Yalding Downs and Barnes Hill; and to the left of the station there are several country seats and mansions, in most beautiful parks.

This is a large and handsome village, retaining its rural character, combined with an unusual degree of charming neatness and taste. The cottage gardens are sweetly pretty. The church is rather handsome, and contains several tombs of the Style family. Wateringbury Place in the vicinity is a fine mansion, situated in very beautiful grounds.

A mile beyond, above the line, is the neat village of Teston, the scenery around which, with the bridge across the Medway, is quite picturesque. Barham Court, the mansion and park of the Earl of Gains-borough, is in the vicinity. There are several unusually pretty villages and villas on the right side of the river and railway. East and West Farleigh, on the banks of the Medway, though consisting only of scattered houses, are exceedingly pleasing. The church in the latter place is a very ancient one covered with ivy, and, with the hop-grounds and orchards, has quite a sylvan appearance.

Two miles beyond this the train enters the present terminus of this line at Maidstone. It is a very neat and commodious structure, within a few minutes’ walk of the High-street.

OMNIBUSES to and from station, also to London direct, and to Faversham via Debtling, Stockbury Valleys, Key Street, Sittingbourne, Milton, Rochester, Chatham, Strood, and Canterbury.

FAIRS. —2nd Tuesday in every month (cattle), Feb. 13th, May 12th, June 20th, Oct. 17th (Hops).

MAIDSTONE is a parliamentary borough, and the capital of Kent, on the Medway, in a tract of land of great fertility, among orchards, hop grounds, and woodlands. The distance from London has been recently reduced 13 miles by the opening of the North Kent line from Strood, the information for which will be found on page 27 . It is not only a shorter route, but commands a splendid view of the valley of the Medway and the adjacent hills.

The town is on the slopes of the hills, so that, rising from the banks of the river, at the north entrances are the cavalry barracks (of wood!), and the county jail, the latter being a most complete and extensive pile, nearly two-thirds of a mile round its quadrangular wall, and covering 14 acres. It includes the assize courts, and was built in 1829, of the ragstone which is so abundant in the neighbourhood. The county asylum occupies a site of 37 acres. In High-street stands the old brick Town Hall, over the corn market, the butter market being in an adjoining street.

Round the church are grouped some interesting remains. The church itself is an embattled straggling building of great length, nearly 230 ft.; and was made collegiate by Archbishop Courtenay, who is buried here in the middle of the chancel. His arms are over the old stalls and stone seats on the south side. It was here that the royalists were surrounded by Fairfax, when he took the town, after a hard fight, in 1648.

The Primates had a palace here from King John’s time, of which a part, still inhabited, hangs over the river on one side of the churchyard. Another old looking house is styled the castle; behind, are the ruins of Courtenay’s College, of which Grocyn, the Greek scholar, and friend of Erasmus, was for a while master; after teaching at Oxford he was buried here. Here also are fragments of a priory, and the Grammar School. There is a great air of quiet antiquity about this part of Maidstone. In West-Borough (over the bridge) is the ancient chapel of a hospital founded in the 13th century by Archbishop Boniface, while another chapel (now a school) was occupied by the Walloons, or Dutch Protestants, expelled by the Spanish butcher Alva, in Elizabeth’s time. The flax spun here for thread is still called Dutch work, in remembrance of these persecuted emigrants. William Hazlitt was a native of Maidstone, born 1778.

In the ragstone quarried here Dr. Mantell found his fossil iguanodon, which he thinks must have been nearly 70 ft. long. A restoration of this river-monster is at the Crystal Palace.

Besides hops, cherries, filberts, &c., paper is a staple production, especially at the Turkey and Pole mills, on the Len; and the Toril mills, near the old pest house, up the Medway. Coppices for hop-poles, props, &c. are dispersed about. The hop was first cultivated in Kent in the time of Henry VI., about the middle of the 15th century,

The walk along the Rochester road to Blue Bell Down (four miles) affords a charming panorama of orchards, copses and hills; and the views from the Down itself amply repay the long ascent to it.

From Paddock the main line proceeds rapidly in the direction of the coast, and although the country presents very charming alternations of waste and woodland scenery, yet it does not offer objects of sufficient interest to describe in detail. Views of hop fields are shut in by excavations which, like the change of slides in dissolving views, transform the landscape every moment.

The only object worthy of notice is Warden church. Boughton Place in the neighbourhood is a very fine estate, from some points of which may be obtained several extensive views over the Weald of Kent.

The village of the same name is near the station; its fine old church and quaint antique houses are much admired.

The village of Cranbrook, in the heart of the Weald of Kent is remarkable for its handsome church, considered one of the most interesting edifices in the county. The remains of Sissinghurst Castle, four miles, are also well worthy a visit.

This village possesses no feature of particular or general interest, beyond the splendid old oak tree in the churchyard. The churches of Chart Sutton, Sutton Valence, and Sutton Castle, are worth visiting.

From Headcorn the railway passes the villages of Smarden and Bedenham on the right side, and then reaches

In the neighbourhood of Pluckley there are several villages and country seats. Bethersden the seat of the Lovelaces, a family now extinct, two and a half miles. Great Chart, once a large market town, and many others.

Leeds Castle, however, in general absorbs the attention of the traveller. Of Norman architecture, situated in a beautiful park, and being still in good preservation, it is one of the most imposing and interesting castles in the county of Kent.

MARKET DAYS. —Every Tuesday (corn), 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesday in every month (cattle)

This was a quiet agricultural town in East Kent till the South Eastern Railway Company made it the chief station for their works, since which the population has greatly increased. It is on the Stour, at the junction of the branches to Canterbury, Margate, and Hastings, with the main line to Dover, from which it is 21 miles. Among the buildings erected by the Company are a carriage house 645 ft. long; a repairing shop, 395 ft. by 45; an engine room 210 ft. by 63; besides factories for wheels, boilers, &c. Such is the wear and tear a wheel undergoes that it requires to be fresh turned after every 2,000 miles of travelling. A church has also been built for their workmen, by the Company. The parish church is a large and handsome edifice, in the Gothic style, containing several brass and stone monuments of the families of the neighbourhood—as the Smythes of Westenhanger, the Fogges of Repton, &c.

Three miles N.E. is Eastwell Park, the seat of the Earl of Winchelsea, standing on a ridge which commands a view of the Thames on one side and the British Channel on the other. There is an extensive lake in the park, with a pretty model ship of war floating on it, fully rigged. The church contains many tombs of the Finches and Moyles; but the most remarkable monument is that to Richard Plantagenet, the last descendant of that royal house, who died here in obscurity as a bricklayer to the Moyles, 22nd Dec., 1550. His name is inserted in the register book under that date. The story concerning him is that he never knew who his father was till the battle of Bosworth Field, when he was taken into Leicestershire, and carried to Richard III.’s tent. The king embraced him and told him he was his son. “But child (says he), to-morrow I must fight for my crown, and if I lose that I will lose my life too. If I should be so unfortunate, shift as well as you can, and take care to let nobody know that I am your father, for no mercy will be shown any one so near to me.” When the battle was lost he sold his horse and fine clothes, and, to hide all suspicion of his descent, put himself apprentice to a bricklayer. In this situation he was discovered reading a Latin book by his employer Sir T. Moyle, to whom he told his secret as it has come down to us. Not long ago there was a brick house in the park built by Richard. His singular fate is the subject of a very charming book called the “Last of the Plantagenets.”

Within two or three miles of Ashford are the following seats:—Merstham Hatch, Sir Norton Knatchbull, Bart.; Hothfield, Sir R. Tufton, Bart., for ages the seat of the Thanet (or Tufton family), and near Ripley, where Sheriff Iden seized and killed Jack Cade, who was hiding here. Surrenden, an ancient family seat of the Derings, descended from the Sir Edward whose sufferings in the civil war are eloquently described by Southey in the “Book of the Churches.” Godington, N. Toke, Esq., was the seat of Sheriff Toke, a hearty, vigorous old man, who died 1680, when 93 years old, having walked to London a little before to court his sixth wife. He and his four predecessors at Godington counted 430 years among them.

All this east end of the Weald of Kent is thick with woodlands, like the rest of that fertile tract, but the roads are damp and heavy.

Here the line branches off to Canterbury, Whitstable, Sandwich, Deal, Ramsgate, and Margate, and, from the accommodation it affords to the towns through which it passes, and the exquisite beauty of the scenery along its route, will not suffer in comparison with any line of similar length in the kingdom. It follows throughout the meanderings of the river Stour, and traversing the most fertile districts in the country, has one uninterrupted panorama of luxuriant fertility during its whole length.

On leaving Ashford, the little villages of Brook and Wye are passed in succession to the right, imbedded in a valley sheltered by rising hills, and thickly studded with lofty and umbrageous patches of woodland.

The town of Wye is close to the river Stour, and consists of two main streets. It has a handsome church, and was once a royal manor, granted by William the Conqueror to the Abbey of Battle. Here was a monastic college, the remains of which are still to be seen.

Emerging from a tolerably deep cutting, we next trace to the left a most charming and picturesque village, and shortly reach

Chilham House or Manor is a noble building, situated in beautiful grounds, which command extensive views over the entire Vale of Ashford and the Stour.

Thence the windings of the Stour, spanned ever and anon by some rustic bridge of wood or stone, enhances the romantic beauty of the landscape, and we seem to be for many miles treading the sylvan labyrinth of a miniature Rhine-land.

Shortly afterwards, the towers of Canterbury Cathedral rise into sight, followed by the lofty buildings of the city itself, and whilst watching the course of the railway to Whitstable, which branches off to the north, the accustomed warning sound of the whistle rings in our ears, and we glide beneath the commodious structure of the station at

OMNIBUSES to the station; also to Barham, Dover, Ellam, Elmstead, Faversham, Goodnestone, Wye, Sittingbourne, and Eastry.

The appearance of Canterbury, from whatever part approached, is exquisitely beautiful, and as we enter, symbols of its antiquity stare us in the face everywhere; narrow passages, crazy tenements, with over-hanging windows, peaked gables, and wooden balustrades, jut out on every side. Here and there some formless sculpture of a fractured cherub or grotesque image, peer out from a creaking doorway. Crypts and vaults seem natural to every house, and yet withal, an air of liveliness pervades the town, that renders the contrast truly pleasing and striking. The city lies in a fertile vale, sheltered by gently rising hills, from which streams of excellent water are derived.

When Becket was murdered here, 1170, in the great contest between the civil and ecclesiastical powers, Canterbury became the centre of pilgrimages from all quarters of Christendom to his shrine. Many old timbered houses, and small ancient roughcast churches are seen here; but the noble

Cathedral is the first object of notice, as it rises above the town. It is a double cross 574 feet long inside, with an east transept of 159 feet, and a west one of 128 feet. The oldest part is the half Norman choir, begun 1174; the nave and west transept finished 1420; the great tower is 235 feet high; the west tower is 130 feet. The west front of the great window is of Richard II.’s time. On one side is a beautiful porch, built as late as 1517. The north-west transept, called the Martyrdom, because Becket was killed there, has a beautifully stained window; the opposite one contains the monuments of Cardinal Langton, and the Duke of Clarence. A decorated screen leads into the choir, with the monuments of Archbishops Kemp, Stratford, Sudbury, &c.; those of Chicheley, Bourchier, and other primates, with Henry IV. and Queen Joan, the Black Prince, and Archbishop Canterbury, &c., are near Trinity Chapel, in the north-east transept. Here stood Becket’s shrine, or the gold chest containing his bones, which Erasmus saw; it shone and sparkled, he says, “with rare and precious jewels, the chief of them gifts of kings.” During the jubilee of 1420, in an ignorant and superstitious age, as many as 100,000 worshippers crowded to the shrine, expecting to obtain heaven per Thomœ sanguinem, “by the blood of St. Thomas,” whose chief merit was rebellion to his sovereign. The hollows worn by the knees of devotees may be observed in the pavement. In one year their offerings amounted to £954 6s. 3d., while at the Virgin Mary’s altar in the crypt there were only £4 1s. 8d., and at the high (or Christ’s) altar, nothing. The bones were burnt at the Reformation. At the east end of the cathedral is Becket’s crown, a chapel so called, where are monuments of Cardinal Chatillon, &c., and the ancient chair of the primates. Below is a very curious Norman crypt, where the Walloons and the Protestant refugees used to meet for worship.

Near this splendid pile are the cloisters, with 811 coats of arms placed round; the later English chapter house, in which Henry II. did penance in sackcloth, two years after Becket’s death; the Archbishop’s deserted palace; baptistry and treasury; the beautiful gate of the Abbey, under which Augustine was buried; and the new missionary college, founded by H. Hope, Esq., built in the Gothic style, 1849. St. George, St. Paul, Holy Cross, and St. Martin’s churches are among the most ancient—especially the last, which stands outside the town, on the site of the first one built by Augustine, having an ivy-covered tower, and the font in which Etheldred was baptized. It has been restored lately with great care. Riding Gate is in Watling Street, on the old road from London, which Chaucer’s pilgrims travelled from the Tabard in Southwark, and put up at Chaucer’s Inn, in Mercery Lane here, of which few traces are left. Close to this gate is the Donjon or Dane John Terrace, a pleasant spot, laid out as a public walk, and which presents a most gay and lively scene when the élite of the neighbourhood assemble here, once weekly, to enjoy their favourite opera airs, skilfully played by the band of the regiment that may be quartered at the barracks. Westgate is near this; and some other portions of the city walls remain.

Canterbury has a Guildhall, sessions house, cavalry and other barracks, with several schools and hospitals. St. Nicholas’s hospital, at Harbledown, was founded by Archbishop Lanfrane in the 11th century. That part of the neighbourhood near the Dover road, is dotted all over with fine seats.

WHITSTABLE is the harbour of Canterbury, and is celebrated for its oyster fishery, the produce of which, under the name of natives, is highly esteemed in the London and other markets. The town, though rather mean in appearance, and irregularly built, has a bustling and thriving appearance, from its fishing and coal trade.

Quitting the Canterbury station, the line proceeds through a similar fertile tract to that which accompanied its progress thither. Cattle grazing knee-deep in luxuriant pastures, farm-houses, cottages, and orchards on one side, and sunny fields, rich in corn and clover, sloping down on the other; these are the chief characteristics of the route for the next eleven miles.

OMNIBUSES to and from the station; also to Herne Bay, thrice daily, Canterbury, &c.

From Sturry the main line proceeds in an east-north-east direction, through a highly cultivated country, and enters the Isle of Thanet, near Grove Ferry, where the railway crosses the Wausum, and, proceeding five miles further, reaches the Minster Junction Station, whence a branch line diverges to the ancient towns of Sandwich, and Deal, which we will describe first, and the other, the main line, proceeds to Ramsgate and Margate.

Many of our readers may not be aware that this spot, and the whole neighbourhood, is the classic ground of England, and replete with historical associations of surpassing interest. From the Downs to the north of the village of Minster there is a prospect of great extent and singular beauty. Not only may the Isle of Thanet, with all its churches save one, be seen at a glance, but in the distance are perceptible the towers of Reculver, the Isle of Sheppy, the Downs and town of Deal, the bay and town of Sandwich, the champaign districts of East Kent, the spires of Woodnesborough and Ash, the ruins of Richborough, the green levels of Minster and Saltpans, watered by the Stour, and far on the land horizon at the head of the valley the stately towers of Canterbury Cathedral, the picture finishing with a sweep of hills which spread north and south to the extent of one hundred miles.

Minster is a delightful looking village, and exceedingly interesting. The fine old church is said to be the oldest Christian church in England. The interior has been recently restored, and is very beautiful.

After leaving Minster, the line crosses the Stour by a double swing bridge built on a new and ingenious principle. Each line has its bridge; one turns to the right on a pivot on the side of the Minster branch, and the other to the left, from a pivot on the side of Ash, which is the next parish. By this arrangement greater stability is obtained, with a nicer power of adjustment. This bridge is considered a curiosity by engineers, and it will well repay examination. It far surpasses the celebrated bridge at Norwich.

The line then proceeds over Sandwich flats past the hamlet of Saltpans. At this spot the memorable ruins of Richborough come fully into sight; and shortly after the train sweeps round the sandy hill on which they stand. This was a celebrated Roman station, which guarded the southern entrance of the great Roman haven, the area of which is now in the hands of agriculturists, and “Corn now waves where Cœsars once bore sway.” The remains of a Roman amphitheatre are still very apparent. In the centre of the great quadrangle is the celebrated prostrate cross, built to commemorate the introduction of Christianity into England. It is placed on the top of an immense heathen altar, and marks the spot on which Augustin preached the gospel. No monument in the kingdom equals this simple cross in interest, yet few have been treated with greater neglect. We commend it to the care of the clergy of Canterbury, the successors of Augustin and his eighty monks.

A short distance further, or four miles and a half from Minster, is the station of

MARKET DAYS. — Wednesdays (corn); alternate Mondays (cattle). FAIR. —December 4th.

BANKERS. —The London and County Bank. Sub-Branch of National Provincial Bank of England.

The traveller, on entering this place, beholds himself in a sort of Kentish Herculaneum, a town of the martial dead. He gazes around him, and looks upon the streets and edifices of a bye-gone age. He stares up at the beetling stories of the old pent-up buildings as he walks, and peers curiously through latticed windows into the vast low-roofed, heavy-beamed, oak-panelled rooms of days he has read of in old plays.

SANDWICH is a town of very remote antiquity, and contains more old buildings than almost any other in England. It is rich in ancient hospitals, chantries, hermitages, and venerable churches, many of which, with their towers and buttresses, will take the imagination of the gazer back to the old monkish times, when Sandwich was the theatre of more stirring and important historical events than perhaps any town or port of our island.

This town stands close to the sea shore, which is a bold and open beach, being defended from the violence of the waves by an extensive wall of stones and pebbles which the sea has thrown up. The sea opposite the town, between the shore and the Goodwin Sands is termed the Downs. This channel is about eight miles long and six broad, and is a safe anchorage; and in particular quarters of the wind, as many as 400 ships can ride at anchor here at one time. Deal was formerly a rough-looking, irregular, sailor-like place, full of narrow streets, with shops of multifarious articles termed slops or marine stores. It is however being much improved, and is now resorted to for sea bathing, especially on account of its good repute for moderate charges. The bathing establishment at Deal is well conducted, and there are good libraries.

It is a great pilot station for the licensed or branch pilots of the Cinque Ports; the Deal boatmen are as fine, noble, and intrepid a race of seamen as any in the world, and as honest as they are brave. Deal Castle is at the south end of the town. The village of

Walmer is a detached suburb of Deal, towards the south on the Dover Road. Since Her Majesty resided here, Walmer has been much improved and extended. It now contains several handsome villas, inhabited by a large body of gentry. The air is very salubrious, and the surrounding country pleasant and agreeable.

Walmer Castle, one of the fortresses built by Henry in 1539, is the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. It is surrounded by a moat and drawbridge. The apartments are small but convenient, and command a splendid view of the sea; but they will always have a peculiar interest for Englishmen, as having been the residence of the Duke of Wellington, and at which he died in 1852.

Sandown Castle is about a mile to the north of Deal; it consists of a large central round tower, and four round bastions with port holes, and on the sea-side it is strengthened with an additional battery.

Kent and the Kentish coast have long been celebrated for their delicious climate and exquisite pastoral scenery, and the railway passes through a fine panorama of marine and picturesque views, until it reach

RAMSGATE was little better than a mere fishing village before the close of the last century, and all the noble streets and terraces stretching seaward are the growth of the present. Its prosperity has been literally built on a sandy foundation, more permanent than the adage would teach us to believe, for the sands, which are really unequalled for extent, were long the prominent attraction of visitors. In 1759 was commenced the pier, built chiefly of stone from the Purbeck and Portland quarries, involving an expenditure of nearly £600,000. This stupendous structure affords an excellent marine promenade of nearly three thousand feet in length. The form is that of a polygon, with the two extremities about two hundred feet apart. The harbour comprises an area of nearly fifty acres, and can receive vessels of five hundred tons at any state of the tide. The first object that arrests attention at the entrance to the eastern branch of the pier is the obelisk, fifty feet in height, which commemorates the embarkation of George IV. from here on his Hanoverian excursion in 1821. The next is a tablet, at the octagonal head, setting forth the name of the engineer and the dates of the erection. Opposite is the lighthouse, casting at night a brilliant reflection over the dark waste of waters, and forming a striking feature in the scenery of the coast. Far away, like a phosphoric gleam upon the channel, is the floating beacon called “the Gull,” which, with two smaller ones near Deal, becomes visible after dusk from the pier. Eight seamen and a captain, who has only occasionally a month’s leave of absence, are entrusted with the management of the beacon, and in this desolate and dangerous region they are doomed to battle with the elements at all seasons, cheered alone by the reflection that through their vigilance thousands are perhaps annually preserved from the perils of shipwreck. The Goodwin sands, traditionally said to have been the estate of earl Godwin, father of King Harold, form the roadstead called the Downs, and extend from the North Foreland to Deal, but as they are continually shifting under the influence of the winds and waves, their exact locality can never be ensured.

Nowhere is the accommodation for bathers more perfect than at Ramsgate, whether the green bosom of the Channel be selected for a plunge, or a private bath chosen instead. Most of these establishments, where baths can be had at all hours, are elegantly fitted up with hot air stoves, luxuriant ottomans, and refectories and reading-rooms adjacent. A communication with the upper portions of the town, built upon the high range of cliffs, is formed by two convenient flights of stone steps, called Augusta Stairs and Jacob’s Ladder. The lawny esplanade that has been formed before the crescents facing the sea enables a promenader to obtain an ample sea view, and the Downs being continually studded with shipping, the picture is generally extremely varied and animated. Some elegant churches in the florid Gothic style, and numerous places of dissenting worship, are to be met with in convenient situations about the town, and in Harbour-street is the new Town Hall, erected in 1839, with a capacious market underneath, teeming with every kind of comestible of various degrees of excellence.

Boarding-houses, hotels, and dining-rooms are in the usual watering-place abundance, and the limits of expenditure may be adjusted to the depth of every purse. The bazaars and libraries provide evening amusement in abundance, through the agency of music and raffles; and though the books partake of the elder Minerva press school of composition, and the raffling is generally for articles of indifferent worth, the excitement attendant upon both is quite sufficient for sea-side denizens.

No one of course would think of stopping a week at Ramsgate without going to Pegwell Bay, where the savoury shrimps and country-made brown bread and butter are supposed to have been brought to the very highest degree of perfection. And for a quiet stroll in another direction there is Broadstairs, two miles to the north-east, very genteel and very dull; the aspect of this “exceedingly select” place of residence being so imposingly quiet as to make one involuntarily walk about on tip-toe for fear, of violating the solemn sanctity (f the place. It is, however, a very agreeable excursion for a day, and an excellent plan is to go by the path across the cliffs, past the elegant mansion of Sir Moses Montefiore, and return by the sands at low water. The old arch of York gate, built by the Culmer family in the reign of Henry VIII., is the sole vestige of the once extensive fortifications that bristled up at the back of the old quay. There was a pier, too, swept away by the terrific storm in 1808, which destroyed that of Margate, but the rough wooden substitute is not the less picturesque, and there is a fine wholesome odour of sea-weed about the old rugged rafters, enough to make one willing to forego the fashionable for the fragrant. A mile beyond is Kingsgate, where Charles II. landed, and furnished a pretext for endowing it with a regal title. Another mile, and the North Foreland lighthouse, 63 feet in height, may be reached, and entered too, if the curious visitor will disburse a small gratuity to the keeper. It is well worthy of inspection.

There is not, in the whole range of our sea-side physiology, a more lively, bustling place than this said Margate: albeit, by those who are fettered down to cold formalities, and regard laughter as a positive breach of good-breeding, it is pronounced to be essentially and irredeemably vulgar. The streets are always a scene of continued excitement, and troops of roguish, ruddy-cheeked urchins, escorted by their mammas or their nursery-maids, traverse every thoroughfare about the town from morning until night. There is a theatre also, and a kind of minor Vanxhall, called the Tivoli, where those who care little for out-of-door enjoyments can spend a passable hour in such dramatic and musical gratifications as the artists and the place can best afford. Bazaars and marine libraries afford too, in “the season,” the latest metropolitan vocal novelties; and the same raffling and rattling of dice-boxes, to test fortune’s favouritism, is carried on as at Ramsgate, but with a greater spirit of freedom and earnestness. In short, for those who do not go to the coast for retirement, and who like to have an atmosphere of London life surrounding them at the sea-side, there is no place where their desires can be so easily and comprehensively gratified as here.

The increasing extent and importance of the town makes one regard the traditions told of its early origin as being nearly akin to the fabulous, yet a few centuries back, known to the local chroniclers as coeval with the period of “once-upon-a-time,” Margate was a small fishing village, with a few rude huts thrown up along the beach, and having a mere or stream flowing at that point into the sea, whence it derived its present appellation. When London folks, however, grew wiser, and found that short trips had a wonderful power in preventing long doctors’ bills, the place grew rapidly into repute, and the old Margate hoy—immortalised by Peter Pindar—disgorged its hundreds of buff-slippered passengers annually. Since then steam has done wonders, and Margate visitors have to be numbered by hundreds of thousands in the same space of time. The only drawback to its salubrity as a place of residence is that a cold cutting north-easterl wind is frequently encountered, and not being sheltered by a range of hills, the effect on an invalid of delicate constitution is of rather an injurious tendency than otherwise. But this apart, the air is keen, fresh, and invigorating, and, with persons in good health, will have a material influence in keeping them so. It is generally a few degrees cooler in July and August than Ramsgate. The sixth day of April, 1810, saw the commencement of the present pier, and five years afterwards it was finished from a design by Rennie, and at a cost of £100,000. It is nine hundred feet in length, sixty feet wide, and twenty-six feet high. A day ticket for one penny will not only give admission to the promenade, but afford an opportunity besides of hearing a band perform for a few hours in the evening. There is a lighthouse at the extremity, which is an elegant ornamental Doric column as well, and was erected in 1829. At an expenditure of £8,000 the well-known Jarvis’s Jetty was constructed in 1824, out of the finest old English oak that could be procured. It extends 1,120 feet from the shore, and forms a pleasant cool promenade when the tide is out, although a scurrilous wag has compared it to walking along an excessively attenuated cold gridiron. The Clifton Baths, by the Fort, cut out of the chalk cliffs, are unquestionably the most commodious, and have some interesting appendages in the shape of a library, winding passages, curious vaults, daily newspapers, and an organ. The other bathing-houses, though well conducted, are of a more ordinary character.

Margate being situated partly on the acclivities of two hills, and partly in the valley below, the streets partake of that tortuous and undulating character which is so much pleasanter to look at than to climb. On the Fort, in front of East-crescent, the handsome structure of Trinity Church is conspicuously situated, and to the south-east the old parish church of St. John occupies a similarly elevated position. In this latter there are some curious old tombs and monumental brasses that should not be forgotten. A literary and scientific institution is supported by the annual subscriptions of the inhabitants, and has a library, lecture-room, and museum, that may vie with any out of London.

Extending about a mile along the shore there is a stout barricade of stone, erected as a defence to the incursions of the sea, at an outlay of £20,000. The sum of £4,000 more rebuilt the Town Hall and Market Place in 1821; and from this it will be seen the townsfolk have not been chary of their coin in contributing to the security and embellishment of their native place. Inns and hotels of every grade are scattered in and about the town with prodigal luxuriance, and lodging-houses are everywhere. The staple manufacture of the landladies here may be set down as—beds.

The visitor should not neglect to make a pilgrimage to the old Roman station of Reculver and Richborough, the ruins of the old castle of the latter being still in a state of tolerable preservation.

Races are held on the downs, by Dandelion, in the middle of September, and generally attract a large concourse of spectators.

MARKET DAYS. —Wednesday (Corn), Saturday (Meal), and every Wednesday fortnight (Stock).

BANKERS. —Curteis, Pomfret, Pix, Billingham, and Pix. Branch of London and County Bank.

RYE, a borough town in the county of Sussex. It stands on an eminence near the mouth of the river Rother. In the reign of Edward III., Rye sent nine armed vessels to the royal fleet when that monarch invaded France. In the next reign it was burnt and plundered by the French. From this and other unfavourable circumstances, the town remained for many years in a state of great decay, but its prosperity has in a great measure been restored.

The original sea port, which bore its name, was swallowed up by the sea on the eve of St. Agatha, 1287, and although the buildings were then erected furtner inland, the sea, unappeased by the former sacrifice, broke in anew, and finally, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, altogether choked up the harbour. The ruins of the castle of Ounber, built by Henry VIII., are still standing, and so are three out of the four town gates, but they are in a ruinous condition.

The main line on leaving Ashford makes a gradual approach towards the coast, swerving slightly to the south-east, and having on each side a delightful champaign country. At one part of the route the vestiges of a celebrated fortress suddenly burst upon the vision through the trees to the right, forming all that remains of Westenhanger Castle.

Merstham Hatch, the property of the Knatchbull family since the reign of Henry VII. The mansion is a modern building, of considerable architectural beauty, situated in a very fine park, and the interior is most elegantly fitted up.

Mount Morris, the seat of Lord Rokeby, is in a splendid park, the heights of which command extensive views of the South Downs, the Channel, and the coast of France.

From this point the line passes almost immediately to the north of the extensive level of Romney Marsh, which may occasionally be seen from the carriages.

Two and a half miles from here are the ruins of Westenhanger Castle, once the abode of the ill-fated Fair Rosamond, which are well worthy a visit from any person staying in the neighbourhood.

HYTHE lies 3½ miles to the south of Westenhanger Station, easily accessible by omnibuses that meet the trains.

The town of Hythe is small, but clean and healthy, and prettily situated at the foot of a hill extending down to the sea. It is beginning to be resorted to by visitors, for whom accommodation is provided on reasonable terms. The church on the hill has a light tower, ornamented by four turrets. It is one of the Cinque ports. Near Hythe commences Romney Marsh, extending along the coast for twenty miles, and including about 60,000 acres, which within the last few years have been successfully drained and cultivated.

The deep chalk cutting that succeeds our departure from Westerhanger introduces us to Saltwood Tunnel, and, emerging from this, we immediately catch on the right the first transient glimpse of the sea—that sight which involuntarily quickens our pulse, and sends a pleasurable emotion tingling through our veins. A lofty amphitheatre of hills, stretching away in the blue distance, varies the view in the opposite direction. Then comes an embankment, and, borne across a viaduct 90 feet above the valley below, we come almost magically within a fine view of Folkestone and its harbour, immediately afterwards reaching the station at

STEAMERS. —To Boulogne, twice daily in the summer, in two hours, and once in the winter.

FOLKESTONE is rapidly becoming a much frequented watering place, as well as a favourite point of embarkation to France; the distance to Boulogne is only twenty-seven miles, and the voyage generally accomplished in two hours and a half. The opening of the South Eastern Railway, and the establishment of a line of packets between this port and Boulogne, has been the means of rescuing Folkestone from its previous obscurity, and bringing it to its present position. It is situated on the side of a range of hills on very uneven ground, the streets are narrow, steep, and irregular, and the sea-worn chasms about the shore seem still to perpetuate in appearance that reputation for contraband traffic which once was its distinguishing feature. The air is very salubrious, and has been thought of much efficacy in nervous debility, whilst the country round is highly picturesque, and abounds in varied and beautiful landscapes. Visitors here may enjoy all the benefits of sea bathing and sea air, with more retirement than at Dover or Ramsgate.

Folkestone Hill is 575 feet high, and commands a beautiful prospect of the town and adjacent country, through which the railway is seen winding its devious course. To those who do not mind a little pedestrianism, and who delight in formidable ascents and footpaths trembling on the brink of ocean, we can conscientiously recommend a walk across the cliffs to Dover, which besides presenting a succession of romantic scenery will be found to afford some advantageous opportunities for inspecting the shafts connected with the ventilation of the railway tunnels running underneath.

Sandgate, a small watering place two miles from Folkestone, has been much frequented within the last twenty years by invalids, who wish for quiet and retirement. It has several detached villas, and the roads between Folkestone and Sand-gate, either along the shore or over the cliff, are exceedingly picturesque and romantic. Sandgate Castle is of great antiquity. The country around is highly interesting, and abounds in beautiful views and landscapes, ruined castles, and other remains of olden times.

After leaving Folkestone, the traveller will encounter the most wonderful portion of the line. The rapidity of our progress is such as to allow but little time, however, for examination of the extraordinary engineering works and achievements. Prepared by a shrill shriek of the whistle, we plunge into the Martello tunnel, and then, scarcely with a breathing interval, enter the second or Abbot’s Cliff tunnel. Emerging from this, the line continues along a terrace supported by a sea wall for nearly a mile, and presenting a delicious scenic contrast with the marine expanse that opens to the right. This brings us to the Shakspeare Cliff tunnel, double arched for greater security, on escaping from which, an embankment raised from the shingle again receives us, and darting through the smaller excavation of Arch-cliff Fort, we are brought, with varied sensations of dreamy wonder and delight, beneath the elegant terminus at Dover.

The viaduct on the Dover side is also considered a fine work; it is about half a mile long, and formed of heavy beams of timber securely framed and bolted together, but left open so as to offer less resistance to the waves in bad weather.

FAIRS. —November 23rd, lasting over three market days, and Charlton Fair in July.

This much frequented point of continental embarkation has of late years occupied a prominent position among the watering-places of our island. The line of continuous terraces of noble-looking mansions spreading along the margin of its coast, the pureness of its atmosphere, the bold and rocky headlands that distinguish its marine scenery, all contribute to give it an important position among the recently created destinations of our sea-loving citizens. The associations, too, that cling to the white cliffs of Albion—not, as of yore, frowning defiance to our Gallic neighbours, but with a better spirit illuminating their weather-beaten features with sunny smiles of welcome—all tend to draw every year crowds of fleeting visitors to a spot so renowned in song and story. It has been well said, that scarcely any great man, from King Arthur to Prince Albert, has failed, at some period or other, to visit Dover, and all history confirms the assertion.

Divided from the French coast by a passage of only twenty miles across the British Channel, Dover is advantageously situated on the margin of a picturesque bay, sheltered by the promontory of the South Foreland, and screened by its lofty cliffs from the piercing northerly winds.

At the entrance to the town from the London-road was the Hospital of St. Mary, commonly called the Maison Dieu, and now the guildhall and gaol. It was erected in the reign of King John, by Hubert de Burgh (afterwards Earl of Kent), and intended for the accommodation of pilgrims passing through Dover on their way to or from the Continent. After many changes and alterations, as well as being fortified during the civil war, it was purchased from Government by the corporation in 1834, and converted the following year into a guildhall, sessions chamber, and gaol. The old priory gate, half monastery, half farm, is still remaining, at the beginning of the carriage road towards Folkestone.

Over the butter market in the London-road was the old Town Hall, erected in the reign of James I., on the site of an ancient cross. It is now the Dover Museum, and may be inspected daily from ten till five by the public. The collection comprises various specimens of birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, minerals, fossils, weapons, dresses, coins, and other articles illustrative of the manners and customs of different nations.

Under the museum, the butter market presents, on a Saturday, a busy and lively scene, and the commodities that then pour in from every part of the surrounding country are both plentiful and excellent.

Ancient as Dover is as a town and port, it is, as we have said, comparatively modern as a watering-place. In 1817, houses were commenced on the Marine Parade, and, about the same period, Liverpool Terrace, and the contiguous lawns, Guildford and Clarence, were projected, followed, in 1838, by the noble mansions of Waterloo Crescent and the Esplanade. These form, in conjunction with others, a continuous range of imposing buildings that extend nearly from the Castle cliff to the north pier. Close to the sea is the Promenade, which, during the summer season, presents a complete galaxy of beauty and fashion, not unfrequently enlivened by the performance of military music. The facilities afforded to bathers merit great commendation, and the clear transparency of the water is not the least of the advantages here derived.

If not the most elegant thoroughfare in Dover, Snargate Street is decidedly the most picturesque. With the towering white cliffs on one side, and a row of excellent shops on the other, it presents a contrast that seems to link agreeably the permanent majesty of the past with the fleeting characteristics of the present. Here is situated the Post Office, nearly opposite to Rigden’s library, the theatre, the Apollonian Hall, in which concerts are frequently given, and a bazaar, which affords a pleasant lounge for those who like to court the smiles of fortune in a raffle. Adjoining the Wesleyan Chapel, also in the same street, is the entrance to the grand military shaft leading to the heights and barracks above. The communication is by an arched passage and a vertical excavation, having three spiral flights of 140 steps each. The barracks are sufficiently capacious to contain many thousand troops; and beyond, following the military road, we come to the grand redoubt, occupying the site of an ancient Pharos, the ruins of which are called Bredenstone, or the “Devil’s Drop.” Nowhere will the tourist find more extensive and beautiful views than a promenade at sunset on these heights will afford. Westward is the town of Boulogne, with its lofty column to commemorate an invasion which never took place; eastward, rising as it were from the ocean, is the white tower of the Hotel de Ville, and the revolving phare of the town of Calais. Turn which way we will there is something to admire. On one side is the magnificent Castle, still rearing its stately battlements in majestic grandeur, after braving the blasts of a thousand winters, and bringing back to the eye of the imaginative beholder the by-past glories of the days of chivalry; on the other, the noble cliff, an object sufficiently striking from its own native sublimity, but rendered doubly attractive and interesting to every spectator by its association with the greatest work of our greatest bard. Perhaps in the whole circuit of the kingdom there is not another spot so calculated to awaken in the bosom of an Englishman feelings of pride and exultation, as the objects around call up in succession reminiscences of those martial and intellectual achievements by which the inviolate island of the sage and free has attained her present unquestioned supremacy amongst the nations of the world. An evening stroll on these picturesque heights will amply repay the trouble of the ascent.

Shakspeare’s Cliff is about one mile west of the pier, and is exactly 313 feet above high-water mark, being somewhat less than it was in the days of our great dramatist. The descriptive passage that has stood sponsor to it has been so often quoted that we may be well spared its repetition here. A steady foot and a cool head will enable a visitor himself to learn from experience “how fearful and dizzy ‘tis to cast one’s eyes so low.”

But the Castle is, after all, the great lion of Dover, and as the first object that strikes conspicuously upon the eye of the traveller as he emerges from the railway terminus, it is sure to woo his footsteps thither as the cynosure of attraction. Starting on his pilgrimage, early enough, if possible, to behold the artistic effect of the grey sombre ruins, magnified by contrast with a skiey background from which the shades of departing night have not altogether fled, we can promise the pedestrian a rare treat. A sunrise scene from the cliffs round the Castle will honestly challenge comparison with a sunset from the Alps. Well aware that this savours of a bold assertion not altogether orthodox, we merely recommend such as would doubt its veracity to ask Boots to call them at two o’clock in the morning, and try it. Rising northward of the town, from a bold and abrupt ascent of more than 300 feet, and poised upon a commanding eminence, which seems to defy alike the ravages of time and war, Dover Castle answers more to our expectations of what a fortress ought to be than any other defensive building in the kingdom. Its early origin is involved in the mystery of tradition, though there can be little doubt that a British fortification was the nucleus of its future architectural strength. Julius Cæsar has had the honour of erecting the present fortress ascribed to him, but recent antiquaries have come to the conclusion that it was raised between the years A.D. 43 and 49, during the reign of Claudius. The three leading characteristics of the ground plans and buildings are Roman, Saxon, and Norman. All that can now be traced of the fortifications of the former is encircled by a deep ditch. The Saxon portion of the structure is presumed to have been commenced by Alfred the Great, and the foundation of the present keep to have originated with the ingenious Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, about the year 1153. In its present state the Castle occupies about thirty-six acres.

On approaching the entrance to the Castle from the old Deal road the stranger’s notice is first attracted by the faint tinkle of a small bell, moved by a string from the tower of Fulbert de Dover, now used as a debtor’s prison. A grated window fronts the road, at which a prisoner stations himself to solicit alms, aided by a further appeal on a board, which bears the following inscription:—

“Oh ! ye whose hours exempt from sorrow flow,

Behold the seat of pain, and want, and woe !

Think while your hands the entreated alms extend,

That what to us ye give to God ye lend.”

It is seldom that an application of so mournful a nature can be neglectfully regarded. With a glance at the curious piece of brass ordnance, cast at Utrecht in 1544, and twenty-four feet in length, known as “Queen Elizabeth’s pocket pistol,” we ascend the road leading to the keep, and pass through the gateway from Peverell’s Tower, so denominated from an illegitimate son of the Conqueror, who had the command of this post. The keep, situated in the centre of the quadrangle, is a large square edifice rising to an altitude of 100 feet from the ground, and 370 feet above the level of the sea, presenting from its summit a view of almost unequalled grandeur. The famous well, 400 feet deep, was once an important feature of the tower, but it is now arched over for the better security of the public. The old Roman church, and the pharos, or lighthouse, adjoining, are the next objects of interest; its form is that of a cross, with a square tower. On the western side of the church is Cocklecrow or Colton’s Gate. Some curious excavations have been made in more modern times for the reception of soldiers, about 2,000 of whom can be here conveniently accommodated; light and air are conveyed into the different apartments by circular apertures cut in the chalk, and by other openings carried through to the face of the cliffs. These remarkable subterranean barracks can be seen on Tuesdays and Fridays by an order from the commanding royal engineer, which can be easily obtained on those days between the hours of ten and twelve at the Ordnance Office, Archcliff Fort. Subterranean communications exist in every direction. Blanchard, the celebrated French æronaut, ascended, in 1785, from the quadrangle of the Castle keep, and, after a voyage of two hours and a half, descended in safety on the continent, at the distance of six miles from Calais. Our modern steam-boat communication with that port has long since out-rivalled the ærial voyager in speed.

By the Castle jetty below there have been lately built some neat houses, under the most precipitous part of the cliffs. The situation is pleasant enough, but the tenants must have strong faith in the durability of chalk. For ourselves, not having nerves of iron, all we can say is, that we should decline a lease of 99 years, even upon the most advantageous terms.

Dover harbour suffers much from the accumulation of shingle, and all expedients to remove it, however ingenious, have been ultimately found futile. The simplest, as usual, has proved the best; by means of flood-gates, which are closed at high-tide, the water which flows into the basin and pent is retained; at low water these sluices are opened, and the shingle driven back again by the force of the current.

The Custom House is a spacious building conveniently contiguous to the quay. All passengers’ baggage coming from the Continent must be conveyed here for examination. The office hours are from ten till four.

Hotels and taverns, varying in price and accommodation, are unusually numerous; and even cheap coffee-houses, conducted on what is somewhat indefinitely styled “the London system,” are now to be met with.

The pretty village of Charlton and River, and St. Margaret’s, with its fine view of the South Foreland, are all within a pleasant three miles’ walk or drive from Dover. There is St. Radegund’s Abbey, too, an ivied ruin of the twelfth century, which will well repay a visit. Vehicles of every kind can be obtained at a reasonable rate, and for those who delight in water excursions, steam-boats will be found in daily communication with Margate, Ramsgate, and most of the watering-places of the southern coast.

ONE of the Southern Couniies, is varied by the inequalities of the Downs and by intervening vallies, to which the wooded scenery and pasture land give a rural and a rich diversity of appearance. It belongs to the chalk formation, and has some high ranges of downs and hills. The north is occupied by Wealden formation, covering 420,000 acres, and the south by the chalk formation. On the east are marshes and alluvial lands, and on the west coast it is much indented by, at others it runs out into, bold cliffs.

This county is celebrated for ts breed of sheep, which are fed on the South Downs, the name by which they are distinguished. This, and the adjoining counties of Hants and Surrey, were by the Romans denominated Belgæ, from the circumstance of their being inhabited by a people called Belgians, who supplanted the British Celts.

The railway communication of the county of Sussex is supplied by the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company. The London and Brighton main line, commencing at the London Bridge Terminus, proceeds past Sydenham and Croydon to Reigate, thence enters the county of Sussex at Crawley, and passes due South to Brighton, having branch lines extending along the coast to Lewes and Hastings, and Newhaven to the north, and to Shoreham, Worthing, Arundel, Chichester, Havant, and Portsmouth on the south.

The London and Brighton Railway is 50½ miles in length, and traverses a considerable portion of the counties of Surrey and Sussex.

The Brighton Company was the first to commence running excursion trains, which are now provided by most of the other companies throughout the United Kingdom, as affording a profitable source of revenue to the companies, and being the means of “popularising” the towns, localities, and scenery in connection with the respective lines.

Railways may now be considered as accelerators of pleasure as well as of business, bringing as they do the most favourite watering places along the coast within the compass of a brief and agreeable journey. Of these mediums of transit, we know of few more inviting to the tourist than the one we are about to describe, passing as it does, through a succession of the most varied and diversified scenery, fraught with a host of welcome associations, and terminating at a sea-side town, which fashion in pursuit of pleasure has justly selected for a marine residence.

The London terminus of the Brighton Railway, though approached by the same line as the South Eastern Railway, is a distinct building, occupying a considerable place to the south, at the right hand or furthest corner of the fabric, and embraces in its arrangements every thing calculated to promote the convenience of the passengers, and all that can contribute to their security.

So entangled is the mighty maze of London with its suburbs, that on emerging from the station it is some time before we entirely lose sight of its multifarious characteristics; we seem, Asmodeus-like, to be fleeting over the habitations of a dense and crowded district. The first part of the line to New Cross is carried over arches, and continues so for some time, passing by a viaduct over market gardens, as far as the Greenwich Junction, and then turns off towards New Cross, where the Company has a large depôt for repairing locomotives. Immediately the line emerges from the streets and houses that obstruct the view, and the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, sparkling in the distance, appears in sight.

From this station the line passes through cuttings that exclude all view of the country; the passengers, however, cannot fail to admire the ingenuity with which the declivities on each side have been converted into flower and kitchen gardens. Emerging from this cutting a wide and extensive prospect of undulating ground is opened on both sides. To the east appears a succession of gardens; to the west, a glimpse of the cemetery at Nunhead is obtained. Sydenham and Norwood appear next in succession, studded with white villas, and on every side a range of wooded and picturesque scenery is unfolded to the view.

To the right we see Dulwich, famous for the picture gallery, in “Dulwich, or God’s Gift, College, founded by Edward Alleyne, the Player, the ‘Proteus, for shape, and the Roscius, for tongue.’” Built in 1619, supported by an income of £8,637 arising from landed property and bequests, and which is open for view to the public by ticket. (See Bradshaw’s Guide to London. ) To the left lies the village of Sydenham, celebrated for its beauty and salubrity, and shortly after we reach the station at

This station is situated in the midst of most beautiful scenery and in view of the Crystal Palace. A small branch railway conveys passengers from the station to the palace, from which a continuation of the same railway will convey them on to Croydon to rejoin the main line, if their destination be onwards, Whether the reader be going on a visit to the palace or merely passing it en route to a more distant station, the view of the gleaming dome and marvellous structure, which crowns the breezy neights of Sydenham, will always excite his wonder and admiration.

Situated about half way between Sydenham and Anerley station, on the right side of the railway from London to Croydon, the site of the Crystal Palace on the summit of Penge Park, is one of the most beautiful in the world. Standing on the brow of the hill, some two hundred feet above the valley through which the railway passes, the building is visible for many miles in every direction. But when the train approaches the spot where the brilliant and fairy fabric, in the midst of the most enchanting scenery, is revealed suddenly to the eye, the impression produced elicits our warmest admiration. The models of the diluvian and antediluvian extinct animals, the Irish elk with its magnificently branching antlers, the two Iguanodons, the Megalosaurus, &c., &c., in the foreground among the Geological Islands and Lakes; the cascades and terraces, the luxuriant foliage, flower-beds and fountains, ascending up to the splendid and unrivalled fabric of glass which rears its radiant and glittering bulk upon the Surrey hill, form a coup d’œil of wonderful beauty, magnificence, and grandeur, the view of which we may envy the Brighton Railway traveller who enjoys the sight daily, in virtue of his season ticket.

Any one who appreciates the beautiful will always feel gratified even with a passing view; but every person who can spare the time should visit it on a fete day.

Excursion trains to and from London Bridge afford every facility. The building, the grounds or park, the salubrity of the air, the waterworks, the garden inside and out, the fine art courts and collections, form a combination of attractions unsurpassed in any country.

The visitor from London is conveyed to the station of the Crystal Palace in twenty minutes. On emerging from the train he ascends the flight of stairs in the south wing and reaches the centre nave or great transept in a few moments, and immediately beholds that unrivalled view which we all admire with feelings of pride and satisfaction as the most wonderful work human hands and mind have yet achieved.

The whole of the sides of the nave and the divisions on either side are lined with plants and trees from every clime, interspersed with statues and works of art, and embellished with beautiful fountains in the centre. The great transept, with its trees and flowers and fountains divides the nave into two equal parts—the northern division dedicated to art, and the southern to commerce, or to the industrial display of the manufactures of the United Kingdom, which, by the way, under injudicious management is becoming not only less attractive than formerly, but quite contemptible. The transept has the appearance of an immense conservatory, embellished with the finest and rarest models and chefs d’œuvres of ancient and modern statuary. This series of courts represents and illustrates the architecture of ancient art.

The Pompeian Court is the exact fac-simile of the interior of a building discovered in the ruins of Pompeii. Mosaic pavements and walls, divided into compartments, in which mythological subjects are beautifully painted.

The Egyptian Court is highly suggestive of the grand and massive character of Egyptian architecture and its lion-faced Sphinxes, its solemn heads of colossal women, its gigantic figures, and its walls covered with hieroglyphics.

The Greek Court, containing copies of unrivalled works of sculpture, groups of great beauty, and specimens of perfect architecture.

The Roman Court, richly stored with Roman sculpture, models, and curious gems.

The Alhambra Court, representing several courts of the famous palace of the Moorish Kings of Granada, the Court of Lions, and Hall of Justice.

The Assyrian and Nineveh Court, displaying the wonders of Nineveh, with its colossal divinities, Rhea, and the gigantic Sphinxes, its eagle-winged and human-headed bulls, and its cuneiform hieroglyphics. And then on the opposite side are the several courts, in which are given illustrations of the Byzantine, Mediæval, and Renaissance styles of architecture, including models of the French, English, German, and Italian schools, each court being complete in itself, and entered by a characteristic doorway.

Modern Picture Gallery. —In this extensive space will be found one of the best lighted and most spacious galleries of modern pictures to be found in England. These works of art have been contributed by proprietors, and also by artists, and many of them are deposited here for sale. Thus this portion of the building combines the attractions of private collections and public exhibitions, with the additional advantage, that only the best works of art are accepted for exhibition.

On leaving the central transept the visitor descends a flight of granite steps leading to the Upper Terrace, which extends within the two advancing wings of the palace, and commands a splendid view of the gardens, and of the whole country beyond the railway, to the summit of the Surrey hills.

The Terrace Garden is adorned with a central circular basin, throwing out a Jet d’Eau, besides others of an elliptical shape. At the extremity of each wing there is a tower in the form of a Greek Cross, which have each on their summit a tank, containing 924 tons of water, to be distributed for any purposes throughout the building. The high towers, of which there are two. one at each end of the building, have been erected for the purpose of carrying the tanks that supply the fountains in the lower basin, and are, with the exception of the tank and stays, constructed of cast-iron.

Flights of steps lead to the Italian and Flower Garden and Terrace below, and to a series of basins and caves, receiving fountains, and waterfalls, containing six times the amount of water thrown up by the Grand Eaux at Versailles.

Along the great walk the water of the upper basin flows down in a series of cascades, until it falls into an open colonnade, and then rushes into falls on each side of the walk, half a mile in length, which supply numerous other fountains.

On ordinary occasions the basins and fountains give life and freshness to the garden, but on fete days the vast waters are unloosed, and rushing upwards in a thousand streams, or dashing over the colonnades, make the whole garden ring with their tumultuous murmurings, producing a magnificent effect, a splendid brilliancy in the sunbeam, joined to the fragrance and freshness of the flowers, of which few can form a conception who have not witnessed it. One of the most curious features of the Palace is the Geological Islands, and the specimens of the extinct animals, life-like gigantic models of which are distributed over the islands and lakes.

There is a splendid Refreshment Room for the first class visitors, where parties can have hot dinners served in first-rate style, at not unreasonable prices.

For the convenience of the inhabitants of Belgravia and the west end of London, a line has been formed to run from Victoria Station, Chelsea, via BATTERSEA, NEW WANDSWORTH, BALHAM, STREATHAM, at which there is a tunnel, LOWER NORWOOD, and GIPSEY HILL to the Crystal Palace. The scenery along the line is remarkable for its fertility and beauty. It joins the main line from London Bridge at Norwood Junction, a little below the Palace.

NORWOOD is situated on the sides and summit of a considerable eminence, in a most salubrious spot, surrounded with beautiful views of hill and dale, and woodland scenery and of all the most picturesque sites in the two counties of Kent and Surrey. The view, from Upper Norwood, of the west-end of London presents a superb panorama. When the Beulah Spa of Norwood was in its zenith of fame and celebrity, the gipsies were greatly petted by the visitors, but they disappeared with the decline of the Spa, and now rarely visit the neighbourhood. Norwood lies near the Croydon Railway, of which there is a station in the vicinity. The train passes through a lovely and picturesque country.

The town of Croydon derives its name from croie, chalk, and dune, or hill, from which latter term we obtain our English word “downs” as signifying an extensive range of hills. It is situated in the midst of a beautiful country, and is a place of considerable antiquity. It consists of one principal street, more than a mile in length, and a number of smaller ones. The church is a noble building, and has a lofty square tower adorned with pinnacles. The Archbishops of Canterbury, for several centuries, made the old manor house, near the church, their accasional residence. A mile and a half from the town is Addiscombe, at which there is a college for the education of cadets for the service of the East India Company.

At this point there are four distinct lines of rails, an arrangement which insures the safety of travellers at the station, the main line being left free for the passage of any express or special train, and the current train turned off into what are technically termed the “sidings.”

This place is interesting in many points of view, but more especially for its celebrated race-course. It is on the west side of Banstead Downs. During the race week Epsom has the appearance of a busy crowded city; and if the weather be fine, there are seldom less than 60,000 persons assembled here on the great day when the Derby Stakes are contested. The distance was done by Surplice, in 1848, in two minutes forty-eight seconds. Epsom is famous for its mineral spring, from which Epsom salts (sulphate of magnesia) is prepared.

The first stations being BEDDINGTON and MITCHAM, both on the river Wandle. The church of the latter is worth a visit. We then approach the station of MORDEN, near which is Merton, possessing much historical interest. Here are the remains of a rich abbey founded for St. Augustine Canons; and here Ethelred I. was defeated by the Danes, 871, and received his death wound. Here were enacted “the provisions of Merton,” in the reign of Henry III.; and here the glorious Nelson lived. The church is partly of Norman, and partly of the early English styles. Morden Park, ½ mile.

After leaving Croydon we pass through a short cutting, and emerge upon an embankment upwards of two miles long, which affords delightful views of the surrounding scenery; and at the distance of about 4½ miles from Croydon, arrive at the station of

This place commands a fine view of several mansions and seats in the surrounding parks. That of Selsdon Park, the property of G. R. Smith, Esq.; of Purley House, the property of E. B. Kemble, Esq, once the residence of John Horne Tooke; and Sandershead Place, the habitation of George Clise, Esq.

This branch, the length of which is 4⅝ miles, turns off to the left from Caterham Junction, and passes the stations of KENLEY and WARLINGHAM. The line runs through the valley of Caterham, the country about which is hilly, and beautifully diversified.

The village itself does not possess anything worthy of notice; but there are extensive stone quarries about 1½ mile distant, the quality of which material being well adapted for building, will in all probability cause many villas and residences to be erected here.

Chipstead, the church of which, dedicated to St. Margaret, is of Norman style, and of considerable antiquity. Sir Edward Banks, the well-known contractor and builder of the London, Southwark, and Waterloo Bridges, is buried in this quiet and rural churchyard, near the scenes of his early career, where he commenced life in the neighbourhood as a labourer. The Oaks (2 miles), Lord Derby.

Proceeding on, some high grounds now intercept our view, until the line enters the Merstham tunnel, rather more than a mile long, and in some parts nearly 190 feet below the surface. The transition from the gloomy darkness of the tunnel to the day light we had temporarily forsaken is certainly agreeable, and we are rewarded on emerging by a pretty view of the little village of Merstham, and the adjacent country.

After passing Merstham station, which is a minor one, we obtain a fine view of Gatton and its picturesque park, the property of the Dowager Countess of Warwick, and famous before the Reform Bill as having returned two members to parliament, with a population of a hundred persons, living in scarcely two dozen houses. Half a mile further on, an embankment 20 feet high brings us to

This station is reciprocally used by both the Brighton and Dover trains, the latter diverging to the east, and we at once enter the valley of Holmesdale. The hills to the north seclude both the villages of Nutfield and Bletchingly. Leaving Reigate to the right, we proceed across the embankment formed by Earl’s Wood, from which a succession of beautiful varied scenery lures the eye. Leith Hill, Box Hill, and the eminences round Dorking may be clearly discerned.

Horley was once famous for its iron works. It has traces of an old castle. The church is a fine edifice, and contains some handsome monuments.

From the Horley station the line begins for some time rising, and the view on every side continues, as before, uninterrupted.

This branch is 8½ mile sin length. The line proceeds nearly in a west-south-west direction to the station at

The line passes through a rural district, presenting no feature of importance, to

FAIRS. —April 5th and 18th, July 17th, November 27th, and Monday before Whitsuntide.

This town stands on the River Adur, and is considered, in a commercial point of view, one of the most important in the county.

This town has a population of 2,326, and occupies a very healthy situation near the river Rother. The principal attraction is Petworth House, close by, the superb residence of General Wyndham, formerly that of the Earls of Northumberland. Here are a fine collection of paintings, many by Vandyke, old tapestry and various works of art, together with the sword used by Hotspur at the battle of Shrewsbury. The park, in which the museum stands, is 12 miles in circumference. In the church may be seen many of the tombs of the Percys and Wyndhams.

Continuing our route from Horsham, we pass the stations of SOUTHWATER, WEST GRINSTEAD, PARTRIDGE GREEN, and HENFIELD, to the small town of

This place stands on the river Adur, at the foot of a hill. It enjoyed the privileges of a borough by prescriptive right, and returned two members to parliament up to the passing of the Reform Bill, by which it was disfranchised.

Disfranchised by the Reform Bill; a place of no particular note beyond the remains of a castle, which dates from about the time of the Conquest.

This branch is about 6½ miles long, passing through the small village of ROWFANT, four miles beyond which brings us to the town of

FAIRS. —Last Thursday in every mont; also April 21st, June 25th, November 8th, and December 11th.

This was one of the places disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832. It contains a population of 4,266, and a good sized church with a monument, the inscription on which purports the church to have been founded by R. Lewkner, Esq., the wife of whom had been connected with the courts of Edward IV. and Henry VII.

The line now passes over an embankment of considerable length, and the railway thence commences a descent. Passing through a series of cuttings, we enter the Balcombe tunnel, the second of the great tunnels along the line, soon after emerging from which we arrive at the Balcombe station.

The line proceeds southward, and enters the Weald of Sussex through Tilgate Forest, and to the Balcombe tunnel.

To the left, on the hills, is Wakehurst Place, the estate of Sir A. Cockburn, St. Leonard’s Forest on the right. The rivers Adur, Arun, and Ouse have their source in this forest, within a circle of three or four miles in diameter.

A short distance further on the line crosses the Ouse by the viaduct of that name, one of the fiR est works in the kingdom, which is only excelled by the viaduct over the Dee on the Chester and Shrewsbury Railway. It consists of 37 arches, and its summit commands extensive views of the surrounding country.

As we are whirled along it, the prospect presents us with an unbounded scene of beauty, the country round being steeped in the most luxuriant verdure, and hill and dale, woodland and pasture land, succeed each other in infinite variety to the very verge of the horizon.

FAIRS. —April 23rd and Nov. 18th, on the heath; Sept. 16th and Thursday in Whit-week, at Cuckfield.

MARKET DAY. —Tuesday. FAIRS —Whit Tuesday, May 6th, July 26th, and Sept. 21st.

LEWES is a borough town in the county of Sussex, and one of the largest and most important in the whole county. It stands on the banks of the River Ouse, about seven miles from the sea-coast. Lewes is a place of great antiquity, and the vestiges of walls and entrenchments still remaining prove how strong the fortifications must have been. It is well built, and contains several excellent streets, with uniform and elegant buildings. There are also two large suburbs, one on the west side of the town called Southover, and the other on the east side of the river, on a chalk cliff, and hence called Cliff. It contains seven churches, and the ruins of an old castle, and will be memorable in future ages as having been the abode of the Russian prisoners captured by the Allied Powers of England and France in the fierce contests of 1854-55.

From hence this line, 7 miles long, passes through the villages of BARCOMBE and ISFIELD to

Besides its two chalybeate springs in the neighbourhood it has no particular attractions.

NEWHAVEN, formerly a very obscure port or fishing town at the mouth of the river Ouse, is now a rising place, and become of some importance, as the port of communication between London, Dieppe, and Paris. Louis Philippe landed here in 1848, after his flight from France.

The line from Lewes turns eastward, round the foot of Mount Caburn, and after passing through a valley in the South Downs, reaches the station at

The station is near the village of Glyndebourne, in the vicinity of which is Glynde Place, the seat of Sir J. Langham, and Firle Place, the property of Viscount Gage. The South Downs, at Firle Beacon, rise to the height of 820 feet.

HAILSHAM, three miles from the junction, is a quiet little market town, situated on a gentle declivity. It has the remains of a priory, and the pinnacled church of Edward III.’s time is rather handsome.

EASTBOURNE has, within a very few years, become fashionable as a watering-place. The bathing is very good, and a number of machines are employed. It has also the advantage of mineral springs, the waters of which are said to resemble those of Clifton A theatre, a ball-room, a library, and reading-rooms are the principal attractions of the town, and there are good walks and rides. It lies about three miles west of Beachy Head, is much recommended for its bracing air, and offers the somewhat rare attractions of the beauty of country scenery and stately trees, almost close to the sea. Eastbourne town lies about a mile and a half from the beach or sea-houses, the actual watering place. The sea-houses comprise hotels, lodging houses, baths, &c. Beachy Head on the right is a favourite excursion point. To the left is the esplanade, and further inward the large circular fort of redoubts; and in the distance several martello towers. Eastbourne has one of the finest chruches in the country—Norman and early English.

Immediately on leaving Polegate, eastward, commences the Pevensey level, the scene of the Norman Conquest; and the coast from hence to Hastings is rich in association with this grand chapter of our civilisation.

Though formerly a place of so much importance as to give name to the hundred, it has now dwindled to an inconsiderable village; and the sea, which formerly laved the castle walls, has now receded to a distance of two miles. A number of martello towers, erected at the time of the last war—we hope the phrase will be just as applicable for a hundred generations yet to come—remain as memorials of the means resorted to for the defence of the coast. The history of Pevensey might be easily expanded by a skilful topographist into a volume, but a brief enumeration of the leading features will suffice to acquaint the visitor with its bygone glories. It first appears in our chronicles in A.D. 792, when honourable mention is made of it as having been generously given by Bervald, a general of Offa, to the Abbey of St. Denis at Paris. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it was dignified by twenty-four burgesses, and was ravaged by Earl Godwin, falling shortly after the reign of Henry III. into hopeless decay. The castle was attacked by Simon de Montfort in 1265, and, in 1339, by the partisans of Richard II., when it was bravely defended by the Lady Jane Pelham. The outer walls of the castle enclose an area of seven acres, and are about twenty feet in height. Within is a smaller fortification, moated on the north and west, and of a quadrangular form, with round towers. The entrance was formerly by a drawbridge. The eastern wall of both is the same, and stands upon a shelving eminence. The circumference of the inner wall is about 25 rods, and of the outer walls 250. When entire it must have been of great strength. Antiquaries differ about its first builders, but if not of Roman origin it is at any rate constructed of Roman materiais, and, though the adjective savours somewhat of a pun, it may be added that its present aspect is decidedly romantic. The church is but an ordinary looking structure, with a square tower at the west end. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas. The rich pastures of Pevensey level afford fine grazing for cattle, and have contributed much to the profit and renown of the graziers surrounding.

The Castle of Hurstmonceaux, on an eminence five miles distant, at the end of a long valley, looks a noble and imposing structure, and, although a ruin, is in very good preservation.

The village of which name is situated on a rising ground not far from the sea. It is a quiet, retired place, having some good iron springs, and is situated in a beautiful country.

Many persons prefer the retirement of Bexhill, with its fine bracing air, to the excitement and bustle of the neighbouring towns.

ST. LEONARDS, the recognised “west-end” of Hastings, with which is now connected, a fine noble archway marking the boundary of the two townships, was planned and executed by the well-known architect, Mr. Decimus Burton, who only commenced his bold project in 1828. Hotels of eastern magnificence, public gardens, looking like realisations of the Arabian Nights’ descriptions, libraries where the most fascinating novel gains an additional charm from the luxurious sea-fronting ottomans, on which their perusal may be indulged, together with an esplanade peerless in its promenading conveniences—these are but a few of the manifold attractions which St. Leonards holds forth to tempt the errant visitor into becoming a stationary resident.

On the hill, by the railway station, as you approach Bulverhithe, may be seen the ruins of the Conqueror’s Chapel, supposed to mark the spot where he landed. Recent antiquaries have laboured to prove that it must have been nearer Pevensey.

Two miles to the right of Hayward’s Heath is Cuckfield, a pleasantly situated market town, which nas a handsome church in a picturesque spot. The neighbourhood of Lindfield on the other side is also very beautiful.

A cutting of nearly two miles leads us to an embankment over St. John’s Common.

From the Hassock’s Gate station, a graceful piece of Gothic architecture marks the entrance to the Clayton tunnel, which is cut through blocks of chalk. These enormous chalk hills are composed of lime, in chemical combination with carbonic gas, the same which sparkles in a bottle of soda water; and if nature had not combined these substances, the first shower of rain would raise the lime to a great heat. and these stalwart cliffs would crumble into atoms

On the left is Ditchling Beacon, 864 feet high, on the South Downs, where about a half a million of prime sheep are fed. The train thence passes Clayton and Patcham tunnels. On the right is Devil’s Dyke, noted for its extensive view over the woodland in the Weald. As the train approaches the village of Preston, and the platform of the Brighton terminus, the guards collect the tickets, and the passenger has an opportunity of noting the two branch lines that diverge from Preston, one across the Preston viaduct to Lewes, and the other through a deep cutting towards Shoreham, Worthing, Chichester, and Portsmouth.

HOTELS. —The Bedford Hotel; Royal York; Bristol; Old Ship; Pier; the Clarence, &c.

The BRIGHTON TERMINUS is an elegant structure, fitted up in the most convenient manner. There is a portico in the Roman architectural style, which projects on pillars into the street, and is surmounted by an illuminated clock.

This once famous resort of royalty and fashion may now, through the literal as well as metaphorical levelling of the railroad, be fairly entitled to the appellation of the Marine Metropolis. Merchants who formerly made Dulwich or Dalston the boundaries of their suburban residences, now have got their mansions on the south coast, and still get in less time, by a less expensive conveyance, to their counting-houses in the city. Excursions are now made with greater facility, and possibly more enjoyment, to Brighton, than would have, a few years back, sufficed for the common-place pilgrimage to Hampton Court; and a constant succession of trains, conveying a host of pleasure-seekers and business men to and fro, now traverse with marvellous frequency and precision the line that has sprung, by the magical enterprise of man, from tracts of waving corn-fields and boundless breadths of pasture.

About two miles from Brighton, Hollingbury Hill—no mean eminence of itself–stretches northward towards Lewes, and occupies a conspicuous position in the landscape. Before you is a majestic range of buildings—such as perhaps no other town in the kingdom can boast—sweeping down the sides of the cliff in every direction, and sheltering the three miles of architectural magnificence which forms the sea frontage, whilst beyond spreads the swelling sea, an object of such grandeur as in its ever-changeful expanse to outvie the lavish richness with which art has fringed its cliffs and shingled shores.

As will be at once apparent on descending the street leading from the station, the town is seated on an eminence that declines gradually towards the south-east, with a sloping undulation towards the Steyne, and then again ascends to the eastward. The twang of saltness that greets the lip, and the freshening, invigorating tone of the breeze, are agreeable proofs, on your first entrance, of the bracing bleak atmosphere that characterises the climate, though in various portions of the town, more sheltered, the air will be found adapted to the exigencies of the most delicate invalid. The panoramic view that first bursts upon the eye is so striking of itself, that it may be worth while glancing at it in detail, for the benefit of the visitor’s future peregrinations.

To the left are seen two noble turfed enclosures, both thickly planted with shrubs, and laid out in the style of our metropolitan squares. The further section, intersected by a road, is the old Steyne, in the northern enclosure of which is Chantrey’s bronze statue of His Majesty the fourth George, erected in 1828, at a cost of £3,000, collected among the visitors and inhabitants. This memorial crowns the square, and, as it were, points out the actual founder of the magnificence and prosperity of the place. The building which rises with domes and minarets, and is fretted with greater variety than taste, is—we cannot say how long it will remain—the Marine Pavilion of her Majesty, erected for George the Fourth, after a fanciful oriental model, which, despite its supposed resemblance to the Moscow Kremlin, has had no precedent before or since. Adjoining are the royal stables, the main architecture of which is a vast glazed dome, lighting a circle of about 250 feet. It will be seen that the chief streets are not only wide and handsome, but well paved and brilliantly lighted, whilst the shops are of absolute metropolitan magnificence, with goods equalling in quality, and, on the average, not much excelling in price, the wares destined for a London sale. The profusion of squares, terraces, crescents, and steynes, with the bold beauty of the esplanade itself, produces a pleasing impression of variety, enhanced by the amphitheatre of hills that enclose the town beneath, and loom out in startling relief against the summer sky. The groups of animated nature identified at the corner of every thoroughfare, and the busy stragglers of the streets, are all of the marked watering-place description—pleasure seekers, out for the day, and eager to be ubiquitous, hurrying to and fro, through the market, to the spa, the race-course, the windmill, the beach, the shops, and the chain-pier, in as rapid succession as the most ingenious locomotion could devise. Then appear invalids, trundled out in bath chairs on to the Parade, to catch the earliest sunbeams; scores of laughing, chubby, thoughtless children, skilled manifestly in the art of ingeniously tormenting maids, tutors, governesses, and mammas; prawn-sellers and shell-fish hawkers a few, and flymen a multitude, all idly vociferating, whilst, intent upon their customary constitutional walk, the morning habitués of the promenade swing lustily past. Let us mingle with the throng, aud obtain a closer intimacy with the principal features of the place.

Kemp Town—the most magnificent range of private dwellings in the kingdom—is on the estate of Thomas Read Kemp, Esq., of Black Rock, at the eastern extremity of Brighton, and is fronted by an esplanade, which is a delectable spot whereon to cultivate the intellectual. On a clear day the eye may reach from Beachy Head to the Isle of Wight, catching between the points many a bold outline of cliff and crag. The cliff here is 150 feet high, and the tunnel under the road, cut through the rock from the centre of the crescent lawn, is a very ingenious mode of shortening the distance to the lower esplanade. From Kemp Town a brisk walk over odoriferous downs brings us to Rottingdean, a village rather peculiar than either pretty or picturesque. It is famous chiefly for its wells, which are empty at high water, and full to overflowing at ebb tide. There is, however, an excellent inn for the accommodation of company, unexceptionable in the quality of its fare.

Returning past the old Steyne, we arrive opposite Mahomed’s baths, in the busiest part of Brighton, Here we find fishermen mending their nets, boats laid up for repair, the fish-market and vendors engaged in every characteristic employment to be met with in a maritime town. Here also are pleasure-boats and sailing-vessels to be hired, where, if a party club together, a few hours’ sail may be compassed for a dozen shillings. From here the Market Hall is but a short distance; it stands on the site of the old Town Hall, and was built in 1830. It answers every purpose in being spacious, unconfined, and well supplied daily with fresh and fine comestibles. The new Town Hall—a vast pile of building, with three double porticoes—cost £30,000, and has a handsome assembly-room on the upper story, rendered available for divers purposes of provincial legislation and amusement.

A few, very few, years back, the battery was on the western verge of the town, and beyond it the several houses seemed to be fairly in the country. A quiet hotel or two, and a bathing establishment, reminded us that we were still in Brighton, and a solitary villa, belonging to the Countess St. Antonio—a kind of Italianized cottage, with two wings, then the scene of many a gay rout notwithstanding its humility—just kept the fashion of the place in mind as, many a time and oft, we lingered on the rough and barren road to Shoreham, strewn with the flowers of hoar antiquity.

The line of extension has now become almost interminable, and most conspicuous in the elongation of the western esplanade is Brunswick-terrace, built from the designs of Mr. Busby, a son of Dr Busby, of musical memory. The terrace consists of forty-two splendid houses, and has a very majestic aspect. Between the two great divisions of the frontal line lies Brunswick-square, open to the sea towards the south, and the whole is fronted by an artificial esplanade, which extends a mile in length. Along this delightful walk the votaries of fashion are wont to exercise their “recreant limbs,” and recruit their wasted energies with the invigorating sea-breeze.

The chain-pier, which has been for years entitled to the first consideration of the Brighton visitoris well worthy of being still considered its greatest lion

Hazlitt has said, “there is something in being near the sea like the confines of eternity. It is a new element, a pure abstraction.” The mind loves to hover on that which is endless and ever the same, and the wide expanse which is here visible gratifies his feeling to the uttermost. The approaches to the pier are handsome and spacious, and the reading-room at the north end, with its camera above, is a delightful lounge for the promenader, who, having inhaled health by instalments of breathing, may therein plunge into the world of fiction, and enjoy a perusal of the last new novel with the zest of a marine atmosphere.

Churches, chapels, and meeting-houses, of all ages and for all denominations, are plentifully strewn over the town. The most modern is the handsome church of St. Peter’s, erected about twenty years ago, in the best pointed style, by Sir C. Barry, the well-known architect of the new Houses of Parliament. But the oldest, and perhaps the most interesting, is the ancient parish church of St. Nicholas, standing on the summit of a hill at the north-west extremity of the town. It is an excellent sea and land-mark, and is said to be as old as the reign of Henry VII. From this pleasant locality the esplanade and parade are seen to much advantage. Gay loiterers of pleasure, and donkey parties, regiments of schools, and old bathing women, literary loungers, who read out of doors, and stumble against lamp-posts in interesting passages—these, and a host of other peripatetic humanities, make the beach populous between Hove and Kemp Town.

With regard to inns, taverns, hotels, lodging and boarding-houses, nowhere are they more numerous than here, their excellence of accommodation of course varying with price. Bathing establishments, too, are almost as numerous, whilst, for amusements, there is no provincial town in the kingdom that can offer such a variety of assembly and concert-rooms, libraries, bazaars, and other expedients for slaughtering our common enemy—Time. In the New-road is the theatre—one of the prettiest out of London—and close adjoining is the Post-office, concerning which, in these economical days of epistolary communication, it may be as well to know the precise hours of dispatch and delivery.

The race-course is about a mile and a half northward of the town, on the summit of one of the loftiest and most commanding downs in the neighbourhood. The races generally take place early in August.

As the Brighton excursionist will go to the Devil’s Dyke, as a matter of course, we do not stay to tell him how he shall behold therefrom the Isle of Wight, spread beneath him like a map, or Beechy Head, looming like a snow-peak to the east, and the Downs far away, mingling with the horizon. But be it gently whispered, that on the margin of this demoniacal defile there standeth a small hostel, the glories of whose bread and cheese and ale have been sung by many an aristocratic voice. Everybody that ever was there assures you that for baking and brewing it stands unrivalled, although we shrewdly suspect that the preparatory course of Southdown oxygen hath a wonderful agency in eliciting this appreciation of a fare so humble.

The Preston viaduct of this short line is a magnificent structure, consisting of an elliptic arch 50 feet span, and 73 feet high, flanked on one side by 18, and on the other by 9 semicircular arches, 30 feet span; the former are built on a curve of three-quarters of a mile radius, and the latter on a 10 chain radius. The length of the viaduct is 400 yards, and ten millions of bricks were used in the construction. In consequence of its being on the curve, one side is above 40 feet longer than the other; all the arcades radiate towards the centre of the curve, and the piers are one foot eight inches thicker at one end than the other, in order to render the openings parallel. The viaduct is universally admired for its beautiful proportions. The view from its summit is exceedingly fine. On the elevated ground to the right is the extensive terminus of the Brighton Railway, and in front lies the town of Brighton and its fine expanse of sea.

After crossing the above viaduct, the line passes through a short tunnel (sixty yards) beneath the Ditchling Road, and the deep chalk cuttings on either side. Just beyond the cutting a bridge crosses the road, forming the northern boundary of the parish of Brighton. After passing through another cutting of considerable length and depth, the line extends along the side of the hill at the back of the Cavalry Barracks, and consists of embankment and cutting combined. Another cutting brings us to Moulscombe, a neat villa, the grounds of which are bisected by the railway, and again connected by a bridge. A deep cutting leads us to Hodshrove, where the Lewes turnpike road is crossed by a skew-bridge of three arches, which are of noble proportions and of massive strength. From this point, the line which had hitherto run on the western side of the Lewes road, lies entirely on the eastern side. A high embankment and deep cutting follow; and we then pass another long one skirting the front of the Earl of Chichester’s Park at Stanmer. This is the most beautiful domain on the line; the estate comprehends the whole parish and village of Stanmer, including the church. The park occupies a valley formed by one of those bold ranges of hills which adorn the coasts of this county; and its undulating surface, varied by thick masses of foliage, forms a rich contrast to the open downs by which it is environed. The Stanmer elevation brings us to the foot of

A deep cutting commences here, which is succeeded by a tunnel, followed by another deep cutting; then a shorter one, and we obtain a sight of Lewes, St. Anne’s Church and the Castle being the most prominent objects. Nothing remarkable occurs after this till we reach the foot of Water Shoot Hill, where the railway crosses the Winterbourne, and taking a course to the right by a short tunnel enters South-over, passing under the road which leads from Lewes to Newhaven. It then crosses the priory grounds, and thus arrives at the station at

Lewes, which is in High Street, at the foot of School Hill. For description, see page 54 .

On leaving the terminus the line turns off abruptly towards the east, and passing through the New England tunnel, cut in the chalk cliff beneath Henfield Road, reaches the station at

This village is now a suburb, or continuation of Brighton. The old church of Hove is a fine edifice, and there is a new cross-shaped one, with a tall spire. There are fine walks here over the Downs. The summit of a high cliff in the neighbourhood, called the Devil’s Dyke, is much visited for the fine views it affords of the surrounding country.

This village is situated on the right of the line; it has a harbour and wharf, and is said to be prosperous and thriving.

The line proceeds along the shore, presenting no feature worth remarking, and reaches

OLD SHOREHAM, on the right of the line, has a fine old Saxon church, which has been recently restored, and is much admired as a beautiful specimen of Saxon architecture.

NEW SHOREHAM is a borough town and a port, situated at the mouth of the River Adur, over which there is a suspension bridge. The harbour is about a mile to the eastward of the town.

The SWISS GARDENS, a kind of Vauxhall, are beautiful. The grounds are admirably laid out, and a constant succession of amusements provided in exchange for the shilling that entitles you to the admission. The cottage is called the “Swiss Cottage”—not that the peasants are so lodged in Switzerland, but that in novels and noblemen’s parks structures of one story high are thus denominated. The material must have cost less than the workmanship, for the doors, windows, and less substantial parts of the fabric are composed of little pieces of stick with the bark on—not expensive by any means, but so picturesque, as a young lady will be sure to remark within your hearing. Inside this Helvetian habitation there is a salon á manger, on a great scale, besides several little saloons for refreshment and flirtation, being, in fact, refectories for two inside—the most compact and comfortable places you can imagine. Added to this, there is a little theatre, a concert, music, swings, and oracles of divination, for all who choose to consult the mystic temple of the Sybil. Of the whole place it may be said, with justice, that there is not in England another so well designed, or preserved in such excellent order.

Few districts in England exhibit more interesting relics of the early history of the island than this part of Sussex. Shoreham was certainly a place of importance previous to the Conquest. Subsequently its geographical position must have added still more to its consequence. From the Downs to Portsmouth the coast is, even in our day, most difficult of access—ten centuries ago it was without a landing-place for vessels of burden, or for craft of any sort, with strong winds from three points of the compass, except Newhaven and Shoreham. As easterly winds are—happily for folks of rheumatic tendency—more rare than any others for nine months in the year, these two places probably monopolised all the intercourse between Great Britain and her French territories. For this reason splendid and unique specimens of Norman architecture abound in Sussex. Of these, not one of the least remarkable is the parish church of New Shoreham. It was originally formed as a crucifix, and covered a great deal of ground. The embellishments are still of are richness and variety, and are full of interest as marks of the state of the arts in those remote days.

Is close to the pretty “sea-side” village of that name, known as Lancing-by-Sea, which is in some repute as a quiet, retired bathing-place, but it is excessively dull and ennuyant.

This market town has lately become very fashionable as a watering-place. Its rise from an insignificant hamlet to its present rank has been rapid almost beyond precedent, even in the annals of this coast. It is said to owe this distinction to the superior mildness of its temperature, arising from the shelter afforded by the Downs, which, at the distance of scarcely a mile, environ it, and exclude the chilling blasts of the northern and eastern winds, rendering bathing practicable even in the depth of whiter. The climate is perhaps somewhat relaxing. The sands, extending nearly ten miles in length, are level, hard, and compact, and afford a beautiful ride or walk. Like Brighton, the town follows the line of the sea, the esplanade extending for three-quarters of a mile along the shore. Towards the close of a summer or autumnal evening no more delightful promenade can be imagined than this beach, as it echoes to the hollow murmuring of the waves, rippled with the sea breeze, whilst afar off can be seen the gas-lights of the town of Brighton, forming a continuous chain of beads of light.

	Miles.
Abinger Hall	3
Anstie Bury	4 ½
Ashstead	8
Bay Hill	3
Bench	2
Bookham	2
Boxhill	2
Brickham Common	2½
Broadmoor	2
Burford Grove	2
Capet	7
Chardhurst	2
Cold Harbour	4½
Collickmoor	2
Combe	1 ¾
Deepdene	3
Denhies	2
Effingham	4
Folly	1½
Freeshurst	2
Holloway	1 ½
Holmbury Hill	1 ½
Holmwood Common	2½
Leith Hill	5
Livesome Bridge	2 ½
Merridone	1 ½
Mickleham	3
Norbury Park	3
Ockley	7
Park Farm	1 ½
Parkpale	2 ½
Pexham	1 ½
Pitbrook Bridge	1 ¼
Polesden	3
Ridland	1 ½
Rookery	1 ½
Scammels	2 ½
Shrub Hill	2
Store Bridge	2
Stubbs	2
Stumble Hole	2
Tanhurst near Leith Hill	5
Upper Laylands	2 ½
Wescott	2 ½
Wescott Parsonage	1 ½
Wotten	2

	Miles.
Abinger	2¼
Albany Park	0½
Albury	1
Burying Place	3
Clandon Park	3
Cold Harbour	5
Cold Kitchen	2
Coleckmore Farm	4¼
Coophurst Farm	4¼
Cotte’s House	2
Cotterell	2
Crauley	5¼
Denbigh House	5
Dilton	3
Dorking	6
Effingham	5
Falvers	3
Farley Green	5
Forest Green	5
Gomshall	0½
Goose Green	5
Guildford	6
Hatch and Hatchland Place	3
Hazel Hall	3
Holmbury	2½
Hound House	3
Hurbwood Common	5
Kingswood	1
Lawbrook	2
Lee	2
Lockhurst Hatch	3
Mayor House	2½
Meroe	3
Netley Abbey	1½
Norrel’s Green	4 ¼
Park House	5
Peaslake Bottom	3
Pitt House	2¾
Ponds and Pursers	3
Ridge Bridge	4 ¼
Ridland Farm	5
South Brook	2
Stonebury Hill	3
Sutton Place	2
Tower Hill	0¾
Wood House	2¾
Wooton	3

	Miles.
Artington	1¾
Catherine’s Hill	0¾
Compton	2½
Clandon Park	2¾
Gang Hill	1½
Gosden	3
Halfpenny House	1½
Henley Park	3¾
Hog’s Back	3¼
Littleton	1½
Losely House	2
Merrow Race Course	2½
Newark Abbey	5
New Warren	1½
Northbrook Place	3¼
Pepper Harrow	6
Puttenham	4½
Shalford House	2
Stoke	1
Sutton Park	2¾
Westbrook Place	3
Wonersh	3
Worplesdon	3

	Miles.
Aldershott	3
Ash Common	1¼
Bagshot Green	2¾
College Farm	0¾
Compton	4
Crondall	7
Farnham	5
Fox Hills	1½
Frog Grove Green	2½
Godalming	5¾
Henley Park	3
Hunter’s Hole	2
Mitchet Farm	2
Normandy	2
Perbright	5
Poyle Park	1½
Puttenham	2¾
Romping Downs	2
Seal	2
Tongham	1
Warren Hill	4
Waverley Abbey	4
Week	1
Westwood	1¾
Weyburn House	3
Winchfield Station	9

	Miles.
Bisley	3
Chobham	2½
Chobham Hall	3½
Chobham Park	3
Cross Stock	2
Dudsall Court	3¾
Grove Heath	3
Hale End	3
Hermitage, The	2
Hide Farm	2¾
Hoe Bridge	1
Hook Hill	1½
Horshill	1
Knapp Hill	3
London Necropolis	2½
Mayford	3
Newark Abbey Ruins	2
Ottershaw	3¼
Pirford	2
Ripley Park	3
Shackleford	3
Sutton Park	3
Westfield	2½
Wokingham	1

	Miles.
Anchor Farm	2½
Blackgrove	3½
Bletchingley	2½
Blendley Heath	2½
Bradfield	3½
Byes	3
Comforts Place	3½
Cross Ways	0¼
Dog Kennel	3
Felbridge Park	5
Flower House	2¼
Gassons House	2¼
Godstone	3
Godstone Green	4
Goulds	3
Hedge Court	7
Hill Farm	1½
Hobbs	3
Hook	3
Horne	4
Ivy House	2¼
Jenkins’ Land	2½
Live House	0¾
Lee Place	2¼
Legham	2
Lingfield	4
Moat Farm	3¾
Nagshall	2½
Nashes	3½
Nobright	3½
North Park	4
Oxted	3
Park Farm	3
Postergate	4
Peartree	4½
Perry’s Farm	2½
Perry’s	3
Priory House	4
Quarry House	4
Rook’s Nest	2½
Snout’s Farm	2
Starborough Castle	8
Stile	3
Stockwood	3
Stratton House	2¼
Tandridge Park	2
Tilberstow Hill	2½
Tyler’s Green	2¼
Woldingham	4½
Wonham	3

	Miles.
Brook House	1½
Brusted	5
Brusted Place	4½
Buckhurst Park	7½
Chiddingstone	3½
Chartwell	3½
Comb Bank	6
Cowden	4½
Cubham Wood	7
Foundling House	3
Four Elms	1¾
Hall Farm	4
Hole Farm	1¾
Hill Park	5
Hartfield	7½
Hever Castle (Ralph Waldo, Esq.), in ruins	4
Ivy House	3¼
Limpsfield	5
Linhurst	1
Mapledon	2
Marsh Green	1¾
Oakhams	2½
Seven Oaks	7½
Squerries, The	3½
Stanfords End	1¾
Sunbridge	8
Westerham	5

	Miles.
Belle Vue (Col. Austen’s)	3
Chevening Park (Lord Stanhope’s)	7
Enfield Well Place	2
Hobby Hall	3¾
Knowle Park (Lord Amherst’s)	4
Leigh Park	2½
Montreal Park (Lord Holmesdale)	5½
Penshurst	2
Penshurst Park (Lord de l’Isle Dudley)	1¾
Salmonds	2
South Park Hill	3½

	Miles.
Ashburnham	5
Ashburuham Park	4
Battle	1
Battle Abbey (Lady Webster’s)	1
Battle Powder Mills	2½
Beaufort	2
Bohemy House	3
Brede	4
Catsfield	3
Crowhurst Park	2
Darvel House	3
Hollington Lodge	3
Newenden	9
New House	5
Ore Place	4
Penshurst	4
Sedlescombe	2¾
Udimore	6½
Watch Gate	1½
Westfield	3½
Whatlington	3

	Miles.
Bowling Green	1¾
Brenchley	3
Great Brainden	3
Homebush Green	2
Horsemondean	4½
Lamberhurst	5½
Matfield Green	4½
Mereworth Castle (Lady Despencer’s)	5
Pigfish	2½
Snoll Hatch	1¾
Wested	1
Woodfall	1¾
Yalding	3½

	Miles.
Addington Place(Hon. Wingfield Stratford)	4½
Barming	2
Birling (Hon. & Rev. J. Neville)	5
Bradburn Park (Capt. Twisden’s)	3¼
Broadwater	2
Cannon Heath	1½
Clare House (J. A. Wigan, Esq.)	3
Delton Place (Jno. Golding, Esq.)	3
East Malling Wood	2
Great Leonard Street (Lunatic Asylum)	2
Larkfield	3
Mereworth Castle	3
Offham Green	4¼
Oxenbeath	3¼
West Farleigh	1
West Malling	4
West Peckham	4
Yalding Down	1

	Miles.
Bennendon	7
Chart Hill	3
Chart Sutton	3
Chiddenden Wood	5½
Cranbrook	6
Dingle Dale	8
Dollingden Farm	6¾
East Sutton	3¾
Elderton	1¾
Foxearthwood	5
Frittenden	4
Goddard’s Green	6½
Great Dunbury	1¼
Hangley Wood	5¼
Hartley	6½
Hawkhurst	8¼
Hempstead Park	6
Hersfield Place	2¼
Highgate	8¼
Hockenbury Green	1
Kilsom	1
Love House	1½
Milk House Street	4
Postern Plain	2¼
Sandhurst Green	9¾
Standing Street	8¼
Sutton Valence	3¼
Swallenden Farm	7½
Swithland	2½
Wanthurst	1¼
Winsley Green	4½

	Miles.
Badlesmere	8
Beaver Green	1¼
Beechborough Park	1
Blackwall	2
Bromley Green	3¼
Brooke	4
Cable Hook	3¼
Challock	5
Cheeseman’s Green	2
Coleman Green	4
Conings Brooke	2
Dean Court	4½
Godmersham	5¼
Hastingleigh	8
Hinxhill	3
Kenardington	7
Kennington	2
Kingsford Street	1½
Kingsnorth	3
Mount Norris, (Lord Rokeby)	5
New Street	2½
Plumbton	2
Sevington	2
Shaddenden Lodge	3½
Shadoxhurst	4½
Sheldwick	9¼
Shottington	3¼
Smeeth	5
Snell Hatch	2
Stone Cross Green	3¼
Tenterden	12
Warehorne	6
West Hauk	1½
Westwell	3¼
Woodchurch	7
Yousel	2½

	Miles.
Adisham Down	5
Bekesbourne	3
Beverley Park	1½
Blean Church	2
Bridge	3
Broad Oak Common	2
Broom Park	7
Dene Park	6
Elensden	4½
Gorsley Wood	4½
Harbledown	0¾
Heath Farm	1½
Herne Common	5
Ickham	5
Kingston	5
Lee Park	4½
Littlebourne	4
Mayton	2½
Mote, The	2
Nackington	4
Riabel Wood	2
South Street	4½
St. Dunstan	1½
St. Stephens	1½
Staple Street	4½
Stone House	1½
Stuppington Farm	2½
Thannington	1½
Way Street	5
Wingham	6

	Miles.
Balls Street & Bodkin	2
Bostall	1
Broad Street	1½
Canterbury	6
Chestfield	2
Church Street	0½
Coleward	2
Elensden	2¾
Faversham	7
Herne Bay	5
Rucking	3
Ryeham	1½
Sea Salter	3
Studhill	2¾
Swalecliffe	2
Tankerton Castle	0½
Thompson’s Farm	2¾
Thorndean Wood	2¾

	Miles.
Ashington	7½
Bramber	7
Broadwater	0½
Charman Dean	3
Cisbury Hall	2½
Clapham	6
Cokeham	2
Finding	4¾
Goring	3¾
Heene	1
Highdown Hill (Miller’s Tomb)	4
Horsham	17
Lancing	2
Lyons	0½
Michel Grove	3½
Muntham	7
North Hall	6½
Offington	1¾
Park Crescent	0¾
Salvington	1½
Sheep Combe	4
Sompting	2½
Steyning	6½
Thakeham	9
Warminghurst	5½
Washington	5½
West Brook Villas	0¾
West Chiltington	10
West Ferring	5
West Grinstead Park	12
West Tarring	1

DORKING,

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

GOMSHALL and SHEIRE.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

CHILWORTH.

SHALFORD.

GUILDFORD.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

ASH.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

BLACKWATER.

WOKINGHAM.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

South Eastern Main Line continued.

Reigate to Tunbridge.

GODSTONE.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

KENT.

EDENBRIDGE.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

PENSHURST.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION :—

TUNBRIDGE.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS AND HASTINGS BRANCH.

Tunbridge Junction to Hastings.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

FRANT.

WADHURST.

TICEHURST ROAD.

ETCHINGHAM.

ROBERTSBRIDGE.

BATTLE.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

ST. LEONARDS STATION,

HASTINGS.

South Eastern Main Line continued.

Tunbridge to Paddock Wood.

PADDOCK WOOD JUNCTION.

DISTANCES OF PLACES FROM THE STATION .

MAIDSTONE BRANCH.

Paddock Wood to Maidstone.

YALDING.