Bradshaw’s Descriptive Railway Hand-Book

This is the ancient seat of the Scudamore family, now in the possession of Sir E. F. Scudamore Stanhope, Bart. The mansion and grounds excite much interest, having a good picture gallery, and a giant pear tree, covering a quarter of an acre. Here Pope wrote the “Man of Ross.”

HEREFORD.

FAIRS. —Tuesday after Candlemas, Easter Wednesday, May 19th and 28th, July 1st, and October 20th.

BANKERS. —National Provincial Bank of England; Hereford Banking Co.; Matthews and Co.; Hoskins and Morgan.

HEREFORD, the capital of Herefordshire, and a parliamentary borough, on the Shrewsbury and Hereford, Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford, and Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester lines. By rail, viâ Gloucester, the distance from London is 144¼ miles, but the direct distance by road is only 134, or 33 beyond Gloucester. Population, 15,585.

Hereford, as its old Saxon name explains it to be, stands at a military Ford on the Wye, which King Harold protected by a castle, the site of which, at Castle Green, is now occupied by the Nelson Column, where an old bridge of the fifteenth century crosses the river a little higher. To this castle the barons brought Edward II.’s favourite, De Spenser, and executed him, in 1322; and four years later the unfortunate king himself was here deprived of his crown. Parts of the town are low and old fashioned. Some remains of the old town walls are still visible. The soil without is a rich tract of meadow, orchard, and timber; and the internal trade is chiefly in agricultural produce, good cider and perry (which require a little brandy to qualify them), wool, hops, and prime cattle—the last being a splendid breed, white-faced, with soft reddish brown coats. A few gloves and other leather goods are made. Salmon are caught.

The present Cathedral, lately restored, standing near the river, and dedicated to St. Mary, is the third on this site, the first one having been founded in the ninth century by King Offa, to atone for the murder of Ethelbert. It is a handsome cross, 325 feet long, begun by Bishop Herbert de Lozinga in 1079, when the Norman style prevailed, and finished by Bishop Borth in 1535, who built the beautiful north porch. The west front was spoiled by Wyatt, in restoring it after the fall of the tower above in 1786. There are two other Norman towers, and a great tower, which firmly support a tall spire. Some of the Gothic side chapels, and the monuments of Bishop Cantilupe, Bishop de Bethune, &c., deserve notice. A curious Saxon map of the world is in the library. The college of the Vicars-Choral, and the grammar school are in the cloisters; the latter was founded in 1385.

The triennial music festivals are held in the Shire Hall, a handsome building, by Smirke, built in 1817. Near this is an ancient Town Hall, constructed of carved timber, 84 feet long, by 34 broad, of the time of James I., and resting on an open arcade, where the market is held; John Able was the builder. The county gaol, on the road to Aylstone Hill, is on the site of a priory, founded by the De Lacys; the infirmary, near the Castle Green. At the opposite end of the town, past Above Eign, is the White Cross, built in 1347, to serve as a market for the country people when the town was ravaged by the plague. Near the bridge and the old palace is the preaching cross of the Black Friary. All Saints Church and St. Peter’s are both Norman, though altered by late restorations. The tower of All Saints leans seven feet from the perpendicular. St. Martin’s is a new Gothic church, in place of one ruined in the civil wars, when Hereford was occupied by the royalist party. Poor Nell Gwynne was born here.

In the neighbourhood are various points of interest. Up the Wye are—Belmont; Sugwas, once a country seat of the bishops; Garnons, Sir G. Cotterell, Bart., in a fine spot, under Bishopstone Hill; Moccas, Sir V. Cornewall, Bart., in an immense park. Sufton Court (near a camp) is the seat of the Herefords, an ancient family. Hampton Court, the old seat of the Coningsbys, belongs to — Arkwright, Esq., a descendant of the great cotton spinner. Foxley, Sir R. Price, Bart., was planned by Price, who wrote the “Essay on the Picturesque,” according to the principles laid down in that work. Leominster, a parliamentary borough, has many old timbered houses, especially one built by the architect of the Hereford Town Hall.

South Wales Main Line continued.
Grange Court to Newport.

The forest hills are soon approached, and then we obtain a glimpse of the Severn, and passing on through Broadoak, we reach the station at

NEWNHAM,

NEWNHAM stands on an eminence rising from the western bank of the Severn, which is here nearly a mile across at high water. In the Norman times, it appears to have been a fortified town, designed to repress the incursions of the Welsh. The houses are principally ranged in one long street, and the church stands on a cliff, near the river.

Immediately after leaving this station a short tunnel passes underneath the East Dean Road, and, emerging thence, a fine reach of the Severn, called Bullo Pill, is presented to view.

The line passes along the margin of the river for several miles, and in some places the water is so near, that at high tides it approaches close to the railway.

LYDNEY. —At the distance of 5½ miles from this station is Clearwell Castle, the seat of the Dowager Countess of Dunraven.

WOOLASTON.

MONMOUTH,

A small English county, bordering on the principality of Wales, which, in point of fertility, picturesque scenery, and historic remains, is the most interesting district, in proportion to its size, of any in the kingdom. The general aspect of this county is inviting, both from its diversity and fertility. A continual recurrence of hill and dale, wood and water, corn fields and meadows; the sublimity of wildly magnificent, and the beauty of mild and cultivated, scenery, combine to delight the eye of the beholder at every turn he takes in this district. Nor is the air less congenial to health than the face of the country is interesting to view. The river Wye, which runs through this county, is celebrated for its picturesque scenery. The peculiar characteristic of this beautiful river are its sinuous course, the uniformity of its breadth, and the variegated scenery on its banks. So considerable is its serpentine course, that the distance from Ross to Chepstow, which is not seventeen miles in a direct line, is by water forty-three. The effects of this sinuosity are numerous, diversified, and striking; and they principally arise from two circumstances, the mazy course of the river, and the loftiness of its banks. In consequence of this, the views it exhibits are of the most beautiful kind of perspective. From the constant shifting of the foreground and side screens, the same objects are seen from a variety of sides, and in different points of view.

CHEPSTOW.

FLYS &c.—Fare to Tintern Abbey and back, time not exceeding eight hours, carriage and pair for seven persons, 16s.; driver and gates 6s.; for ten persons, 20s. and 6s. Fly for two persons, 8s. and 3s. 6d.; ditto for four persons, 10s., and 3s. 6d. gates. Posting, 1s. 6d. per mile. Single horse, 1s.

FAIRS. —Monday before March 1st, Whit Friday, June 22nd, August 1st, Friday on or before Oct. 29th.

CHEPSTOW is a market town, in the county of Monmouth, situated near the mouth of the river Wye. The town is large and has within the last few years been much improved. It was formerly surrounded by walls, and defended by a castle.

Excursionists visit Tintern Abbey, Wyndcliffe, and Chepstow Castle, which are thus described in Mr. Cliffe’s Guide Book of South Wales:—

Tintern Abbey. —The graceful Wye, filled up to its banks, and brimming over with the tide from the Severn Sea, glides tranquilly past the orchards and fat glebe of “Holy Tynterne.” On every side stands an amphitheatre of rocks, nodding with hazel, ash, birch, and yew, and thrusting out from the tangled underwood high pointed crags, as it were, for ages the silent witness of that ancient Abbey and its fortunes; but removed just such a distance as to leave a fair plain in the bend of the river, for one of the most rare and magnificent structures in the whole range of ecclesiastical architecture. As you descend the road from Chepstow, the building suddenly bursts upon you, like a gigantic stone skeleton; its huge gables standing out against the sky with a mournful air of dilapidation. There is a stain upon the walls, which bespeaks a weather-beaten antiquity; and the ivy comes creeping out of the bare, sightless windows; the wild flowers and mosses cluster upon the mullions and dripstones, as if they were seeking to fill up the unglazed void with nature’s own colours. * * *

The door is opened—how beautiful the long and pillared nave—what a sweep of graceful arches, how noble the proportions, the breadth, the length, and the height.

The Castle is a noble and massive relic of feudalism; the boldness of its site, on a rock over-hanging the river, the vastness of its proportions, render it a peculiarly impressive ruin. The entrance is a fine specimen of Norman military architecture: the chapel is one of the most elegant structures ever built within a house of defence. It was originally founded almost immediately after the Conquest.

The Wyndcliffe rises in the back ground of the view, from the road out of Chepstow to Monmouth. Having ascended the crag, the eye ranges over portions of nine counties, yet there seems to be no confusion in the prospect; the proportions of the landscape, which unfolds itself in regular, yet not in monotonous succession, are perfect; there is nothing to offend the most exact critic in picturesque scenery. The “German Prince,” who published a tour in England in 1826, and who has written the best description of the extraordinary view which Wyndcliffe commands — a view superior to that from Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine—well remarks that a vast group of views of distinct and opposite character here seem to blend and unite in one!

The stupendous iron Railway Bridge by which the line is carried over the river Wye, is one of the most remarkable in the country. Bridges of this size are so rare that we think it right to direct the attention of the reader to this one. Mr. Stephenson’s magnificent Britannia bridge displays one method of crosssing wide spans. The Chepstow bridge of Mr. Brunel is another mode, and shows, as might have been expected, his peculiarly original and bold conception, accompanied by extraordinary economy, by arranging his materials in the form of a large suspended truss, and attaching the roadway to suspended chains kept in a state of rigidity by vertical trusses or struts, inserted between the chains and a circular wrought iron tube, spanning the river, 309 feet in length. The railway having to cross a rapid and navigable river without interruption to vessels, the Admiralty very properly required that the span over the mid channel should not be less than 300 feet; and that a clear headway of 50 feet above the highest known tide should be given. The bridge is 600 feet long; there are three spans over the land of 100 feet each, which are supported upon cast iron cylinders, six feet in diameter, and one and a quarter inch thick. These were sunk to an average depth of 48 feet through numerous beds of clay, quicksand, marl, &c., to the solid limestone rock, which was found to dip at an angle of 45 degrees; it had therefore to be carefully levelled horizontally, and the cylinders bedded level. These were then sunk by excavating them within, and pressing them down with heavy weights, in doing which very great difficulties were overcome—immense volumes of fresh water were tapped, requiring a 30-horse engine to pump them out. They were, when finally filled with concrete, composed of Portland Cement, sand, and gravel, which set in a few days, as hard as a rock. The concrete is filled up to the level of the roadway, so that, should the cylinder decay, it might be taken out and replaced in sections in safety.

There are six cylinders at the west end of the main span; upon those a standard, or tower of cast iron plates, fifty feet high, is erected. A similar tower of masonry is built at the east end, on the rocky precipice of the Wye.

On the west standard is a cross girder of wrought iron, and upon which the tubes rest. The tubes serve to keep apart and steady the towers; and to their ends are attached the suspending chains. Now, in an ordinary suspension bridge, the chains hang in a festoon, and are free to move according to the limited weights passing under them; but this flexibility would be inadmissible in a railway bridge, and the continuity of the bridge would be destroyed if a very small deflection took place when passed over by a heavy locomotive. With a view to give the necessary rigidity, Mr. Brunel introduced at every third part a stiff wrought iron girder, connecting firmly the tube to the roadway girders; and, with the aid of other adjusting screws, the suspension chains are pulled or stretched as nearly straight as possible. Other diagonal chains connect these points, so that at whatever part of the bridge an engine may be passing, its weight is distributed all over the tube and chains by these arrangements. The tube is strengthened within by the introduction of diaphragms or discs at every 30 feet, which render it both light and stiff. The bridge cost £65,420; and required 1,231 tons of wrought, and 1,003 tons of cast iron. The bridge has been visited by a great number of engineers from all countries; indeed, it is only by a personal inspection that the numerous ingenious contrivances and arrangements can be understood. The whole seems to be very simple, yet engineers fully enter into the complexity of the design, and the minute and carefully proportioned scantlings given to every part. We would especially call their attention to the cast iron ring or circle attached to the ends of the tube to prevent collapse; to the wedges introduced under the vertical trusses to adjust the exact tension upon the chain; to the curve given to the tubes themselves, increasing their strength; and to the rolling-boxes under the vertical trusses, by which means the road girders are maintained in a position to expand or contract, independently of the movements of the main tubes.

SCENERY OF THE WYE. —The Wye rises in the Plinlimmon Mountains, in the heart of South Wales, and winds along the borders of several counties, past Builth, Hay, Hereford, Ross, Monmouth, to the Bristol Channel, below Chepstow; a course of 130 miles, through scenes of great beauty and celebrity. The Upper Wye reaches down to Hay, on the borders of Herefordshire; after which, that portion which crosses the county is rather tame; but at Ross the Lower Wye begins, and ends at Chepstow. “The former (says Mr. Cliffe, in his Book of South Wales ) has not been estimated as it deserves, because it is off the beaten track; but the opening of the railroads to Hereford (in 1853) has brought the charming scenery of the Upper Wye within easy reach.” It is a rapid stream, occasionally swollen by deep floods, running between high rocky banks all the way.

From Llangurig, which is 10 miles from its source, the river rushes through deep glens and ravines, past the junction of the Dernol, and the Nanerth cliffs (three miles long) to Rhayader-Gwy, i.e., the Falls of the Gwy (the Welsh name of this river), so called from a cascade made by the river, close to the bridge. It stands among mountains, and has some fragments of a castle. Within a few miles is Llyn Gwyn, in which croaking trout are caught. Hence to Builth is 14 miles. The Elan, Clarwen, and Ithon join before you reach Builth, the last at Pont-ar-Ithon, a fine spot. The Ithon may be ascended to Llandrindod Spa, where there are excellent saline, sulphur, and iron springs, in a healthy, though unattractive spot, with a pump-house.

Builth, in a fine part of the river, has remains of a castle, and a long bridge. Trout and salmon fishing; fine scenery. Just above it, the Irvon joins; it should be ascended for its charming scenery to Llanwrtyd Wells (14 miles) and Llandovery (23 miles). When Llewellyn was hemmed in by the English under Mortimer, in Edward I.’s reign, he tried to get assistance to disguise his movements from the Welsh garrison of Builth Castle. It was in winter, and he had his horse’s shoes reversed; this, however, was revealed to the English by the blacksmith. The garrison refused to help him, and as he was retreating up the Ithon, he was surprised and killed. Bradwyr Buallt is the designation applied to Builth to this day. The Welsh prince was killed at Cwm-Llewellyn, near the Park Wells; and the body buried at Cefn-y-bedd, a mile or two further on the Llandovery road. There are two roads down the Wye from Builth, the high road being on the west side; but the east road is the most interesting, especially about Aberedw, which lies in a beautiful defile, where the Ebw falls in, opposite Erwood. The castle was Llewellyn’s hunting seat. Near it is the church on a cliff, a hole in which is Llewellyn’s cave. Further on the Machwy (Little Wye) joins; it should be followed a little way to the Pwll Dwu or Black Rock, and its waterfall, 40 feet down. Then comes Llangoed Castle (J. Macmamara, Esq.), on the Brecon side, and Boughrood (an old castle), on the Radnor side, which commanded the old ford here. Brecon is eight miles from this, and from that place the fine scenery of the Usk may be descended. The Hatterel, or Cradle mountains, to the right are 2,545 feet high.

Glasbury, 15 miles from Builth. Three Cocks, a good inn. Gwyrnefed is Colonel Wood’s seat. W. Wilkins took the name of De Winton nearly twenty years ago, and Maeslwch Castle is the property of Captain De Winton.

Hay, four miles from here, is an old Norman town, founded by Bernard Newmarch; part of the castle remains, which was destroyed by Owen Glyndwr. It is exactly on the borders of three counties. Here the Upper Wye scenery ends. Barges are able to reach this point. Clifford Castle, three miles from Hay, was the birthplace of Fair Rosamond Clifford. It was built by the Conqueror’s kinsman, Fitz-Osborne.

NEWPORT.

This is a sea port town of some importance, having a population of 23,249. It has a constant steam packet communication with Bristol and various parts of South Wales; and by means of its ready access by railway with the many iron districts in the neighbourhood, its traffic in that mineral, as well as coal, of late years has greatly increased. With the exception of the church, which presents various styles of architecture, the town itself has no prepossessing attractions. The scenery from the church-yard is very imposing, taking in, as it does, a wide expanse of country, as well as an extensive view of the Severn. Outside the town a stone bridge of five arches crosses the river Usk. It was erected at a cost of something over 10,000l.

MONMOUTHSHIRE LINE.

The Eastern and Western Valleys Lines turn off at this point to the right, passing through districts rich in mineral products, but not of essential importance to the general tourist. The stations on the Western Line are BASSALLEG JUNCTION, TYDEE, RISCA, CROSS KEYS, CHAPEL BRIDGE, ABERCARNE, NEW BRIDGE, CRUMLIN, LLANHILLETH, ABERBEEG, CWM, VICTORIA, EBBW VALE, ABERTILLERY, and BLAINA. Those on the Eastern Branch, LLANTARNAM, CWMBRAN, PONTNEWYDD, PONTRHYDYRUN, PONTYPOOL, PONTNEWYNNYDD, ABERSYCHAN, CWM AVON, and BLAENAVON.

WEST MIDLAND.

Newport to Abergavenny and Hereford.

In ten minutes after leaving Newport we reach PONTNEWYDD, and in ten minutes more, the station of

PONTYPOOL ROAD.

TAFF VALE EXTENSION.

A short line, 16 miles long, running into the Taft Vale Line at Quaker’s Yard. The stations on the line are PONTYPOOL, CRUMLIN, TREDEGAR, RHYMENY JUNCTION, LLANCAICH, and QUAKER’S YARD.

COLEFORD, MONMOUTH, USK, AND PONTYPOOL.

Pontypool Road to Monmouth.

About a mile and a half beyond Pontypool Road this line turns off; and at the distance of about 3½ miles further, we cross the river Usk, and stop at the station of that name.

USK.

The town is situated a little to the right of the station, and is a place of great antiquity. Considerable remains of a castle, where Richard III. and Edward IV. are reputed to have been born, are to be seen; likewise part of a priory. Fine salmon fishing.

RAGLAN ROAD,

Here are the fine remains of the castle built by Sir W. Thomas in the 14th century. The Marquis of Worcester defended it for four years against the Parliament: it is now a most picturesque ruin. It gives title of Baron Raglan to a descendant—the late Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Commander-in-Chief in the late war in the Crimea. He was military secretary to Wellington, and lost an arm at Waterloo. What it was in the 16th century we may learn from the poet Churchyard; he speaks of it as—

That Raglan hight—stands moted almost round,
Made of freestone, upright, straight as line,
Whose workmanship in beauty doth abound.”

DINGESTOW,

or Dynystow. In a barn, among beautiful orchards, may be seen the remains of Grace Dieu Abbey.

MONMOUTH.

MONMOUTH, the capital of Monmouthshire, is on a delightful part of the Wye, at the junction of the Monnow, a parliamentary borough, returning one member, conjointly with Newport and Usk, with an agricultural population of 5,710, which is rather on the decrease; but this will no doubt be augmented by the recent opening of the railway from Pontypool. It was the ancient Blestium, from which a Roman road, in the direction of the present one, went to Usk. There was a castle here, even in Saxon times, which afterwards became the residence of Henry IV., and here, in 1387, his famous son, Henry V. was born—” Harry of Monmouth”—the immortal Prince Hal of Shakspeare.

The few remains of this castle (which belongs to the Duke of Beaufort), stand among houses on a ridge over the Monnow, to the west near the gaol, the walls being 6 to 10 feet thick. Here is shown the room in which Henry was born, and the great hall by the side of it. There is a statue of him in the Market Place.

Within a short distance of the town are the following objects of notice:—The Wye, so celebrated for its uniform breadth, lofty cliffs, winding course, and picturesque scenery, which is perpetually changing its character. Elegant and commodious boats are kept here for the use of tourists. “The stranger cannot do better than hire Samuel Dew, whom he will find by Monmouth Bridge. Sam is one of the steadiest and cleverest of Wye watermen, knows the river well, and is quite used to guiding those who are in search of the beautiful.”—The Land we Live in.

Near the junction of the Trothey, about a mile from Monmouth, is Troy House, an old seat of the Duke of Beaufort, with old portraits and gardens, where the Marquis of Worcester gave Charles I. a dish of fruit “from Troy.” “Truly, my lord,” said the king, “I have heard that corn grows where Troy stood, but I never thought that there had grown any apricots there before.” Here is Henry’s cradle (so called), and the armour he wore at Agincourt. About 6 miles down the Wye is Beacon Hill, 1,000 feet high, near Trelech Cross (three Druid stones), and below that Landogo Bigswear, Tintern Abbey, Wyndcliffe, Chepstow (17 miles by water); Wonastow, seat of Sir W. Pilkington, baronet, is a very old seat, which belonged to the Herberts. Treowen, near it, is another, but now turned into a farm house. Up the Trothey is Llantillio House.

A pretty road leads to Beaulieu Grove on the top, near the handsome spire church of Llantillio Crossenny, and the ruins of White Castle, a fortress built by the early Norman possessors of this county. In ascending the beautiful valley of the Monnow, there are two other castles, worth notice—Skenfrith and Grosmont—the latter being under Greig Hill, near a small cross church. Most of these structures were formerly part of the Duchy of Lancaster, through John of Gaunt, but now belong, with large possessions, to the Beaufort family. From Monmouth, up the Wye, you pass Dixton Church, a pretty rustic building; then the New Weir, Symond’s Yat, Courtfield (where Henry V. was nursed), &c., till you come to Ross. But the best plan is to descend from that place (see the Wye ). An excursion may be made to the Forest of Dean, and its interesting scenery. You pass (taking the Coleford Road) the Buckstone, an immense Logan stone, on a hill, 56 feet round at the top, and tapering off to 3 at the bottom. Coleford Church is modern, the old one having been destroyed in the civil wars, when Lord Herbert routed some of the parliament people here. About 3 miles north-east is the Speech House, where the miners hold their meetings. To the south, in the direction of Offa’s Dyke, which may be still traced, is Clearwell Park, the seat of the dowager Countess of Dunraven, where a great heap of Roman money was found in 1847, and St. Briaval’s, with its May Pole and hundred court, part of a Norman castle. There are many deserted mines. The wood is cut for hoops, poles, and other purposes.

A good stone bridge crosses the Wye, and one the Monnow — an ancient stone building, called the Welsh Gate, with a Norman chapel (St. Thomas’s) at the foot. Many of the houses are white-washed, and, as they are dispersed among gardens and orchards, the view of the town in summer is picturesque. The parish church of St. Mary has a tapering spire 200 feet. It was attached to a priory, of which there are remains in a private house adjoining. The handsome oriel window is called the “study” of Geoffrey of Monmouth; but he was born in the 11th century, long before such a style was invented. He was a Welsh monk (Geoffry ap Arthur), who turned the British Chronicles, fables and all, into rugged Latin. To him, however, we are indebted for Shakspeare’s King Lear, and the Sabrina of Milton’s Comus.

Monmouth was once famous for its woollen caps, “the most ancient, general, warm, and profitable covering for men’s heads on this island,” according to Fuller. The manufacture was afterwards transferred to Bewdley. There is, or was, a Capper’s chapel in the church, “better carved and gilded than any other part of it.” Fletcher takes care to remember this.

The well-endowed Free School was founded by W. Jones, who, from a poor shop-boy at this place, became a rich London merchant. Newland was his birth-place; and there, after quitting London, he showed himself under the disguise of poverty, but being told to try for relief in Monmouth, where he had been at service, he repaired hither, was kindly received, and then revealed who he was.

One of the best walks is at Chippenham Meadow, near the junction of the Monnow and Wye, under a grove of elms. Anchor and May Hills are good points of view. Past May Hill (across the Wye) is Kymin Hill, the east half of which is in Gloucestershire.

West Midland Main Line continued.
Pontypool Road to Abergavenny.

Passing the station of NANTYDERRY, or Goitre, we arrive at PENPERGWM, near which is Llanover, the seat of Lord Llanover, and three miles to the right is Clytha. Proceeding along the valley of the Usk, we soon arrive at

ABERGAVENNY.

FAIRS. —Third Tuesday in March, May 14th, June 24th (wool), Tuesday before July 20th, September 25th, and November 19th. RACES in April.

This interesting old place, of 4,621 inhabitants, stands among the Monmouthshire Hills, near the Sugar Loaf, Blorenge, and other peaks, in a fine part of the Usk, where the Gavenny joins it, and gives name to the town, which the Romans who had a station here, called Gobannium. It was formerly noted for its old castle and springs, founded by Hammeline de Balun at the Conquest, the former for the purpose of guarding the pass into Wales. This feudal structure afterwards came to the Nevilles, who still take their title from it. A Tudor gate, from which there is a fine prospect, is the chief remain. Later still Abergavenny became celebrated for its Welsh wigs, made of goats’ hair, some of which sold at 40 guineas each. Physicians also used to send patients here to drink goats’ whey. But its present prosperity arises from its flannel weaving, and the valuable coal and iron works at Clydach. Blaenavon, &c., in its neighbourhood—a state of things likely to be much increased by the Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford Railway, part of that important chain which unites South Wales to Liverpool and the north of England.

The old bridge of 15 arches crosses the Usk. The church has some ancient tombs of the Beauchamps, and other possessors of the lordship. Traces of the priory exist near it. There is also an old grammar school, and a modern Cymreidiggion Society’s Hall for Welsh bardic meetings—Monmouth being essentially Welsh, though separated from the principality since Henry VIII.’s time. Antiquaries say that, until feudal tenures were abolished by Charles II., Abergavenny castle used to give its holders their title by mere possession—like Arundel Castle, in Sussex, instead of by writ or by patent.

The views from the Sugar Loaf, which is 1,856 feet high, are magnificent. It takes three hours to ascend it. A still more beautiful prospect is enjoyed from St. Michael’s old Chapel on Skyrrid Vawr. The White Castle is near this mountain. Raglan Castle, which the famous Marquis of Worcester held out so stoutly against Cromwell, is also near (8 miles), on the Monmouth road. Its machicolated gate, hall, chapel, the yellow tower, &c., are in excellent preservation, through the care of its owner, the Duke of Beaufort. Llanthony Abbey stands in a wild part of the Hhondu. The scenery of the Usk, from Abergavenny up to Brecon, is very romantic, as it winds round the black mountains, in one of the highest peaks of which it rises above Trecastle. Excellent trout fishing.

The Merthyr, Tredegar, and Abergavenny Railway runs out to the left at this place, and will, when finished, prove to be a very valuable link in the railway system, as there will then be direct communication between the more westerly districts of South Wales and those of the Midland Counties. That part of the line open at present passes through GOVILAN and GILWERN to BRYNMAWR. The rest of the journey through Tredegar to Merthyr is performed by coach, which runs once a day each way, in connection with one of the trains.

PONTRILAS.

SHREWSBURY AND HEREFORD.

Hereford to Shrewsbury.

MORETON.

LEOMINSTER.

FAIRS. —Feb. 13th, Tuesday after Mid-Lent, May 2nd, July 10th, Sept. 4th, Nov. 8th, Friday after Dec. 11th. RACES are held in August.

BANKERS. —National Provincial Bank of England Branch of Hereford Banking Company.

This place has a population of 5,658, principally engaged in the manufacture of hats, leather gloves, and coarse cloth; it has also a considerable trade in wheat, wool, hops, and cyder. It has several free and national schools, meeting houses, and charitable institutions Many of the buildings, which are of timber and plaster, grotesquely ornamented, present indications of the antiquity of the town. The buildings of greatest note are the church, rebuilt in the early part of the seventeenth century; the Butter Cross, erected about 1633, of timber and plaster, Market House, and House of Industry. This last formed part of a priory.

Nearest station to Bromyard 9 miles to the right. We here branch off to the left on the

KINGTON & LEOMINSTER BRANCH.

Leominster to Kington.

The first station is KINGSLAND, 2 miles from which is Mortimer’s Cross, the scene of the last severe conflict, which settled Edward IV. on the throne of England. Yatton Court near.

PEMBRIDGE.

Proceeding by the river Arrow, we pass TITLEY Station (near which is Eywood Park, and a fine entrenchment, of an oval form, at Wapley ), and arrive at

KINGTON.

Pleasantly situated under the Bradnor Mountain. It has a little clothing trade, and a church, with a detached tower, its spire resembling three hollow cones, placed one above the other. Five miles north is the old border town of Presteign.

The tourist may now, if he please, avail himself of conveyances by which he may reach the sources of the Wye, Plinlimmon, and Aberystwith. The route, laying through Radnor, with its old border castle of the Mortimers; by the glens and cascades of Radnor Forest; Rhayader, and its crags, and pools (full of fish), and old castles. He should, from this point, ascend the Wye, if he would see scenery that is really full of the poetry of nature; and he will not feel this more than when he views the Nanerth Cliffs, and the junction with the Dernol. The road then proceeds along the valley of the Ystwith, by Hafod (the grandly-situated seat of Mr. Hoghton), and the Devil’s Bridge, whence he may go along the valley of the Rheidol, and see the cascades, to Aberystwith.

Pursuing our way from Leominster, we soon pass the station of BERRINGTON and EYE; near which is Berrington Park (Lord Rodney).

WOOFERTON. —At this point a short branch 5¼ miles long turns off to the right, running via EASTON COURT, to the small town of

TENBURY,

Prettily situated on the River Teme, among hop grounds and orchards. It has a market place and old butter cross; the river is spanned by a bridge of six arches.

Leaving Wooferton, and passing along, with the river Teme on our right, we arrive at

LUDLOW.

FAIRS. —Monday before February 13th, Tuesday before Easter, May 1st, Whit Wednesday, August 21st, September 28th, and December 6th.

LUDLOW is a parliamentary borough, with 6,033 inhabitants, returning two members, and standing on a beautiful bend of the Teme, in Shropshire, but close to the borders of Herefordshire, from which the river divides it. Several country seats are planted on the hills around, of which there are very pleasing prospects from the walls of the old Castle. This fine ruin was originally built by Roger Montgomery, one of the Conqueror’s favourite knights, to whom the defence of the Welsh borders was entrusted. The only remains are the keep, 110 feet high, with some other towers, under various names, a chapel in the Norman style, and a great hall. In this hall Milton’s Comus (which he wrote at Horton in Buckinghamshire) was performed before Lord President Brackley, the story being founded on an incident which befel two members of his family. Here Henry VII. a Tudor, and Welshman by descent, kept his court, and married his son Arthur to Katherine of Arragon, an important event in its consequences; for being afterwards married to Arthur’s brother Henry, and divorced by him, the great Reformation of religion followed. In Elizabeth’s time the wise and sagacious Sir Henry Sidney, father of Sir Phillip, was Lord President of Wales; and after the restoration, was succeeded by Lord Carbery, the patron of Butler, who found a home, and wrote the first three cantos of Hudibras here.

Ludlow is well built. Two bridges cross the Teme which, north of the town, is joined by the Corve. One of these leads over to Ludford, in Herefordshire, which belongs to the Charltons of Ludford House; the other is close to the only remaining town gate. St. Lawrence’s, near the Market Place, is a large cross-shaped church of Henry VII.’s time, 230 feet long, the tower, porch, and oak roof of which deserve notice. Edward the Sixth’s Grammar School, and the Guildhall, where the sessions are held, are in Mill Street. A little paper is made here, but the trade is almost entirely agricultural.

Within a short distance are the following seats:—Dinham House, belonging to the Earl of Powis, formerly occcupied by Prince Lucien Bonaparte; Hay Park and Moor Park are the Salweys’ seats; Oakley Park, the seat of the Honourable R. W. Clive; Croft Castle, William Kevil Davies, Esq.; Caynham Court, Sir William Curtis; Downton Hall, Sir Charles Rouse Boughton. Kinlet Hall, near Cleoberry Mortimer, is a seat of the Childes. Wigmore, (7 miles), is in a rocky picturesque spot, with a ruined castle on a hill above it, built by the Norman kings to command the Welsh marches, for the Mortimers, who took their title of Earl of March from this circumstance. One of them was the opponent of Henry IV.

Richard’s Castle took its name from another border fortress. Downton was the seat of Knight, author of an “Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste,” who built it, to exemplify those principles, with “Gothic towers and battlements without, and Grecian ceilings, columns, and entablatures within;” his design being not to copy the style of any particular age or country, but to produce a picturesque dwelling compounded from all, and adapted to the character of the scenery, which is equally irregular. Brampton Bryan, seat of the Earl of Oxford, descended from Lord Chancellor Hailey, whose MSS. are in the British Museum.

KNIGHTON RAILWAY.

Craven Arms to Knighton.

This line is only twelve miles long, but it is intended subsequently to extend it in connection with the Central Wales and Llanelly Railways to South Wales Line, thereby bringing Milford Haven and the South Wales Districts in direct communication with the more important manufacturing districts of the North West. The line runs viâ BROOM and HOPTON HEATH to

BUCKNELL.

KNIGHTON.

POPULATION, 1,655, partially engaged in the manufacture of woollens. Situated on the River Teme. There are races held here annually, in June; the course is a little more than a mile round.

CHURCH STRETTON.

MARKET DAY. —Thursday. FAIRS. —March 10th, May 14th, July 3rd, and September 25th.

CONDOVER.

South Wales continued.
Newport to Cardiff.

From NEWPORT, we pass through a short tunnel and cross the river Ebw, soon after arriving at

MARSHFIELD STATION, situated in a dreary extent of country, called the Westloeg Level. Crossing the river Rumney, we enter

GLAMORGANSHIRE,

ONE of the most southern counties in Wales, by far the largest and most beautiful in the principality, and generally considered the garden of Wales.

The mountains are not so high as those in many of the surrounding counties, but their extreme abruptness imparts an air of wildness and elevation which greatly exceeds the reality. But what principally distinguishes this county is the profusion of coal, iron, and lime-stone, with which it everywhere abounds. These mineral riches have raised Glamorganshire to great importance during the last half century. Immense establishments have been erected in the wildest part of the country; canals and roads have been formed, at great expense, to connect them with the coast; and these circumstances, reacting over the whole district, and even far beyond it, have spread the influence of improvement throughout—the facilities of intercourse creating new sources of in dustry.

CARDIFF.

FAIRS. —Second Wednesday in March, April, and May, June 29th, September 19th, and November 30th

CARDIFF, a borough town, and capital of Glamorganshire, is built on the east bank of the river Taff or Tay, near its entrance into the mouth of the Severn. The inhabitants carry on a considerable trade with Bristol, and export a great quantity of wrought iron and coal to foreign parts.

The new Bute Docks, made on a tract of waste land, by the Marquis of Bute, who is lord of the manor, are about one mile below the town, deep enough for ships, with a basin of one and a half acres, and an entrance 45 feet wide. A ship canal 1,400 yards long, 67 yards wide, runs up to the town. The coal and iron of Merthyr Tydvil and the neighbourhood are the chief exports, and the quantity almost doubles itself every two or three years.

There are remains of the town walls, with the Norman keep, 75 feet high, of the Castle, in which Robert Curthose (i. e., short legs), died in 1133, he having been imprisoned there for life by his brother, Henry I. The parish church is very old, and has a good tower. The new Town Hall, just built by H. Jones, is a handsome Italian pile, 175 feet long, including a police court, merchants’ hall, corporation room (71 feet by 36), crown court, judges’ and other rooms, and a nisi prius court. There is also a large county gaol.

Within a short distance are—Hensol, which belonged to Lord Chancellor Talbot; and Wenvoe Castle, the seat of R. Jenner, Esq., with a front of 374 feet.

TAFF VALE.

Cardiff to Aberdare and Merthyr.

LLANDAFF.

LLANDAFF, a small decayed village, but the seat of a diocese, founded in the 5th century, having a half ruined Cathedral, 270 feet long, chiefly in the early English style. The south door is Norman. Some old monuments are seen—one being ascribed to Dubritias, the first bishop.

From Llandaff, in the course of about half an hour, we are hurried past the stations of WALNUT TREE Junction, TREFOREST, and NEWBRIDGE, the junction of the Rhondda Valley line, via PORTH to YSTRAD and TREHERBERT.

ABERDARE BRANCH.

ABERDARE.

The scenery of the vale of Cynon here is charming. A little beyond there is a junction with the Vale of Neath Railway to Merthyr (see page 47 ).

Taff Vale Main Line continued.

MERTHYR.

BANKERS. — Wilkins and Co.; Branch of West of England and South Wales District Banking Company.

MERTHYR TYDVIL is a parliamentary borough, and great mining town, in South Wales, 21 miles from Cardiff, with which there is railway communication by a branch out of the South Wales line. It stands up the Taff, among the rugged and barren-looking hills in the north-east corner of Glamorganshire, the richest county in Wales for mineral wealth. About a century ago the first iron works were established here. since which the extension has been amazingly rapid. Blast furnaces, forges, and rolling mills are scattered on all sides. Each iron furnace is about 55 feet high, containing 5,000 cubic feet; and capable of smelting 100 tons of pig-iron weekly, and as there are upwards of 50, the annual quantity of metal may be tolerably estimated; but great as that supply may seem, it is scarcely equal to the demand created for it by railways. The largest works are those belonging to Lady Guest and Messrs. Crawshay, where 3,000 to 5,000 hands are employed At Guest’s Dowlais works there are 18 or 20 blast furnaces, besides many furnaces for puddling, balling, and refining; and 1,000 tons of coal a day are consumed.

Visitors should see the furnaces by night, when the red glare of the flames produces an uncommonly striking effect. Indeed, the town is best visited at that time, for by day it will be found dirty, and irregularly built, without order or management, decent roads or footpaths, no supply of water, and no public building of the least note, except Barracks, and a vast Poor-House, lately finished, in the shape of a cross, on heaps of the rubbish accumulated from the pits and works. Cholera and fever are, of course, at home here, in scenes which would shock even the most “eminent defender of the filth,” and which imperatively demand that their Lady owner should become one of “the Nightingale sisterhood” for a brief space of time. Out of 695 couples married in 1845, 1,016 persons signed with marks, one great secret of which social drawback is the unexampled rapidity with which the town has sprung up; but we do hope that proper measures will be taken henceforth by those who draw enormous wealth from working these works, to improve the condition of the people. Coal and iron are found together in this part of Wales, the coal being worked mostly by levels, in beds 2 to 3 feet thick. Besides the large and small works in and about Merthyr, there are those at Aberdare (a growing rival to Merthyr), Herwain, Pentwain, Blaenavon, Brynmawr, Nantyglo, Ebbw (w as oo ) Vale, Beaufort, Tredegar, Rhimney, Sirhowy, &c., nearly all seated at the head of valleys, and many of them being in the neighbouring county of Monmouth, which, though reckoned part of England, is essentially Welsh in its minerals, scenery, and people. Railways and canals now traverse these valleys to the sea.

Merthyr Tydvil, as well as its church, derives its name, signifying the Martyr Tydvil, from St. Tudfyl, the daughter of Brychan (a Welsh chief) who was put to death for her religion in the early ages of the British church. Many such confessors are commemorated in the designation bestowed on parishes in Wales.

In the neighbourhood are the following objects of notice. The Taff may be descended to Quaker’s Yard and Newbridge, where there are large metal works, and a bridge, called Pont-y-prid in Welsh, remarkable as the production of a self-taught local architect, named Edwards, who built it, in 1751. It is a single arch, with a rise of one-fourth the span, which is 140 feet, yet it is only 2½ feet thick in the crown. Once and twice it fell when completed, but the third time the builder was successful, experience having taught him to diminish the strain from its own weight, by boring three large holes on each side near the piers. Following the Neath rail, you come to Pont-neath-Vaughan, at the head of the fine Vale of Neath, within a few miles of which are some of the best Waterfalls in South Wales,—thoso of the Hefeste, Purthin, and its branches, which are 40 to 70 or 80 feet down. One on the Mellte is particularly worth notice, as it flows for half-a-mile through a limestone cave, and then re-appears just before it sweeps down a fall of 40 feet, with so clean a curve that people have actually taken shelter from the rain under it, on a narrow ledge in the face of the rock. The smaller spouts are called Sewbs (w as oo ). These are all in Brecknockshire; but there is one of 90 feet at Merlin Court, half-way down the Vale of Neath; and to the right of this an ancient Roman way, called the Sarn Helen, or via Julia Montana, may yet be traced, It went from Neath over the mountains to Brecknock, which was an important Roman station. The direct road from Merthyr to Brecon is through a lofty mountain pass, called Glyn Tarrell, having the Brecnockshire Beacons, 2,862 feet high on one side, and Mount Cafellente, 2,394 feet high, on the other. A considerable portion of this route has been laid with rails, and with the exception of a small portion from Merthyr to Dowlais, which is at present performed by coach, is in operation.

BRECON.

FAIRS. —First Wednesday in March, July 5, Sept. 9, Nov. 16; also in March, and November 16, for hiring. RACES in September.

This place is situated in the midst of very beautiful mountain scenery, has a population of 5,673, returning one member to parliament. It is 20 miles from Abergavenny, and communicable by coach every day. The principal buildings consist of three churches, County Hall, and Market House, very handsome new Assize Courts, built in 1843, Barracks, Theatre, Infirmary, a bridge of seven arches over the Usk, from which is a fine view; there are also an Independent Training College and Grammar School, at which Jones, the county historian, was educated. Here are the remains of an old castle, consisting of the “Ely Tower,” so called from Dr. Mortan, Bishop of Ely, who was a prisoner at the instance of Richard III., and as the scene of the conference between the Bishop and the Duke of Buck ingham. Newmarch, a Norman baron, was the founder of this castle. Hugh Price, the founder of Jesus College, at Oxford, was born here; and Shakspeare’s Fluellen, or Sir David Gow lived in the neighbourhood. He was knighted at Agincourt by Henry V., when at the point of death, having sacrificed his own life to save the king’s. Another native of Brecon was Mrs. Siddons. The “Shoulder of Mutton” Inn is pointed out as the place of her nativity. It stands in a romantic part of the Usk, by the banks of which beautiful walks are laid out. To the north of it (22 miles by the lower and 17 by the upper road) is Builth, There are good sulphur springs in this quarter, viz:— Park Wells, Llanwrtyd Wells, Llandrindod Wells, &c. Making the descent of the Usk you come to Crickhowell, where there is good angling, and (what is rare in the county) a spire church.

South Wales continued.

Cardiff to Neath.

Our onward progress from Cardiff brings us through ELY, ST. FAGANS, and PETERSTON, to

LLANTRISSANT.

At a distance of 8½ miles is the market town of Cowbridge and its ancient well-endowed grammar school; and 5 miles beyond is situated Foumon Castle, the seat of Oliver Jones, Esq.: it belonged to the St. Johns of Bletsoe, and Colonel Jones, the regicide, and contains a beautiful portrait of Cromwell.

BRIDGEND.

Five miles from this improving town, at which the county elections are held, lies situated, on the coast, Dunraven Castle (anciently called Dindryfan, and the residence of Caractacus), the beautiful and romantic seat of the Dowager Countess of Dunraven, the heiress of the late Thomas Wyndham, Esq., who represented the county of Glamorgan in parliament for upwards of 40 years.

PORT TALBOT.

Three miles distant is Margam Park, the seat of C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., M.P., the descendant of the Mansells. Here is an orangery, 327 feet by 81, which contains the produce of a cargo from Holland, intended for Queen Mary, but wrecked here in 1694. A bay tree, 60 feet high, and 45 in diameter, spread, and a magnificent forest of oak trees, for which the Government in 1800 offered £40,000.

NEATH.

FAIRS. —Last Wednesday in March, Trinity Thursday, July 31st, September 12th, and last Wednesday in October.

NEATH, is a coal and mining port, with an ancient castle, and some abbey ruins. Here the fine Vale of Neath may be ascended to the beautiful waterfalls at its summit (see Merthyr Tydvil , page 46 ).

VALE OF NEATH RAILWAY.

Neath to Merthyr.

From Neath we again turn out of our course, and pass the stations of ABERDYLAIS, RESOLVEN, and GLYN NEATH. From this point, Craig-y-linn, the highest mountain in Glamorganshire, with its lakes and ravines, and which here makes a bold horseshoe sweep, raising its huge bulk against the sky, may be reached.

HIRWAIN, junction of line to Aberdare, LLYDCOED, and ABERNANT stations follow, arriving at

South Wales continued.
Neath to Llanelly.

LANDORE (Swansea Junction).

Here passengers change carriages for Swansea, two miles distant. The view they obtain here of the valley down to Swansea is very striking. If at night, the lurid glare from countless coke ovens—if by day, the dense clouds proceeding from hundreds of chimney stalks overhanging the valley, and at all times, the arsenical sulphurous vapour filling the air, and which you may both smell and taste, give the scene a character scarcely to be seen elsewhere.

SWANSEA.

FAIRS. —Second Saturday in May, August 15th, October 8th, July 2nd, second Saturday after October 8th.

BANKERS. —Branch Bank of England; Branch of Glamorgan Banking Co.; and West of England.

This important seat of the copper trade, is also a parliamentary borough (one member), jointly with Neath, &c., and stands at the head of a fine bay, on the west side of Glamorganshire, 216 miles from London, by the Great Western and South Wales Railways, population, 41,606. No copper ore is found in this part of Wales, but coal being abundant, it is brought hither from Cornwall and foreign countries to be fluxed. For this purpose, six-sided calcines, 17 to 19 feet long, and oval furnaces, 11 feet long, are used in the copper works, of which eight are here, on the river Pauley, or by the sea-side; one employing 500 to 600 men. The earliest was established about 1720, after the Cornish tinners began to take notice of copper, which hitherto they had thrown away. The ore or shift goes through various processes, such as calcining and melting, calcining the coarse metal, which leaves about one-third copper; then melting this to fine metal, leaving three-fifths or more than half copper; calcining the fine metal; melting the same to pigs of coarse copper, which gives nine-tenths pure metal; and lastly, roasting for blistered copper and refining it into cakes for use, which are 18 inches by 12. In this way a yearly average of 20,000 tons of copper are smelted here, from the ore brought not only from Cornwall, but from America and Australia, valued at about one and a half million sterling.

Swansea being at the mouth of the Tawe or Towey, is called Abertawe or Abertowy by the Welsh. By running out two piers into the bay, one being 1,800 feet long, a good harbour has been enclosed, but it is dry at low water; and floating docks are constructed. About 18,000 tons of shipping belong to this port. A castle was built here by the Normans, of which a massive quadrangular tower remains, and presents an object of some beauty Beneath it is the Post Office, a building in the mediæval style, recently erected. A large Market House, built in 1830, is 320 feet long. There are three churches, but the only one deserving notice is the parish church of St. Mary, which was rebuilt in the last century. Some of the numerous chapels are well built. The public Assembly Rooms and Infirmary are handsome edifices. The Royal Institution of South Wales was established in 1835, and contains an important library of works relating to Welsh history, with a museum of coal fossils, antiquities, &c. This was the head quarters of the British Association at their visit in 1854. Besides works for copper smelting, there are others for tin, zinc, pottery, &c.; all fostered by the abundance of coal and lime raised in the neighbourhood. Anthracite coal, chiefly for steamers, abounds here, and was used by the whole of the British steam fleet reviewed in the Solent by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, on April 23rd, 1856. Gower, the poet, and Beau Nash were born at Swansea. The river Towey runs up the vale to the Black Mountains at its head, parallel to the canal. Skelly Park is the seat of Sir J. Morris, Bart. Penlleryâr, J. Llewellyn, Esq. Several other seats overlook the west side of the bay, and the fine sandy beach, two or three miles long, terminating at Oystermouth, a pretty little bathing place, with an old Norman castle, near the Light or Mumbles Head. Hence the county runs out in a peninsula, much resembling in size, shape, and character, that in the south west of Milford Haven. Gower is the name, or Gwyr in Welsh, signifying crooked; it is a mass of rugged limestone, traversed by a red sandstone ridge, which is 584 feet high, at Cefn Bryn, where there is a cromlech called Arthur’s Stone. At the Conquest it was settled by various Norman knights, and the Flemings and Somersetshire men in their train. Round the castles they built at Swansea, Penrice, Ruich, Rhosili, and Loughor, their descendants are distinct from the aborigines to this day. There are similar colonies in the county of Wexford. The poet Gower’s family were natives of this part. Druid stones, old castles, and encampments, frequently occur in this country. The cliffs and caves along the coast deserve attention; while the Worm’s Head, at the west extremity, near Rhosili Bay, is a scene of awful grandeur in bad weather. It is so called from the shape of the cliffs which run out three quarters of a mile long, dipping and rising like a great sea serpent (or worm). Under the very extremity, which is 200 or 300 feet high, there is a vast funnel cave. The scenery of Swansea Bay is so beautiful that it is universally styled by both natives and tourists, “The Bay of Naples in miniature.” Aberafon or Port Talbot, a bustling mining town, near which is Margam Abbey, the seat of C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., M.P., beautifully wooded, and remarkable for its orangery and gardens. There are remains of an abbey of the 12th century. Further on are Ogmore and Dunraven Castles, &c.

Leaving the Loughor Station, we cross by a low bridge the Loughor river, and enter

CARMARTHENSHIRE,

Which is mountainous and woody. The air is mild and salubrious, and the whole county is remarkably healthy and fertile. Coal and limestone are found in great abundance.

LLANELLY.

MARKET DAY. —Saturday. FAIRS. —Holy Thursday, July 29th, September 30th, and November 10th.

LLANELLY RAILWAY AND DOCKS.

Llanelly to Llandilo and Llandovery.

Again turning to the right from Llanelly, we pass through DOCK, BYNEA, LLANGENNECH, PONTARDULAIS, and PANTYFFYNON.

LLANDILO.

FAIRS. —Feb. 20th, May 6th, every Tuesday, from May 14th to June 21st, Monday before Easter, August 23rd, Sept. 28th, Nov. 12th and 22nd, and Monday before Dec. 25th.

LLANGADOCK.

FAIRS. —January 16th; March 12th; May, last Thursday; June 9th; September 1st; Thursday after the 11th; December 11th.

POPULATION. —2,789; many engaged in the production of limestone and coal, which prevail in this district.

LLANDOVERY.

FAIRS. —January 1st, Wednesday after the 17th; March 19th; Whit-Tuesday; July 13th; October, Wednesday after the 10th; November 26th.

This straggling little town is surrounded by hills, which to the northward begin to assume a very wild and barren aspect. Here are the remains of a castle, destroyed by Cromwell.

South Wales Main Line continued.
Llanelly to Milford Haven.

PEMBREY.

KIDWELLY.

This is a small decayed borough, having a population of about 1,652, engaged principally as tinworkers—it has also a very limited export trade, Kidwelly Castle is here situated: it is reported to have been erected by William de Landres, a Norman adventurer, who conquered Glamorganshire about the year 1094. It now belongs to the Earl of Cawdor. The gateway is good, and altogether presents a noble relic of ancient magnificence. Here King John took refuge whilst at war with the barons.

CARMARTHEN.

FAIRS —April 15th, June 3rd, July 10th, August 12th, Sept 9th, Oct 9th, and Nov. 14th.

CARMARTHEN is the capital of Carmarthenshire, on the South Wales Railway, and the river Towey, with a population of 9,993, who, jointly with Llanelly, return one member. It is one of the most healthy towns, and commands a view of one of the finest vales in the principality. It has a good foreign and coasting trade; and boasts of a handsome town hall and market house, a Presbyterian college, free grammar school, &c., &c. A column to the memory of Sir T. Picton, who represented the borough in parliament, stands on the west of the town, near the old Guildhall; also the Assembly Rooms, with a beautiful front built of freestone, in which are Reading Rooms, supported by public subscriptions. General Nott (to the memory of whom a handsome monument in bronze has been erected in Nott Square), together with Lewis Bailey, Bishop of Bangor, and author of the “Practice of Piety,” were natives. The shire prison is on the castle site. A large dioces?n training school for South Wales occupies 10 acres, and has a Gothic front of 200 feet long. In the old church is a monument to Sir R. Steele, who married Miss Scurlock, of Ty Gwyn, and died at the Ivy Bush, in King Street, to whom the Inn is reported to have belonged; the effigy of Rhys ap Thomas; with a good copy of the Transfiguration. Shipping of a small class come up to the quay; the harbour is 3 miles lower down, near the bay, which makes a fine semicircular sweep, 17 miles across. On the east side are the wild limestone cliffs of Worm’s Head, 300 feet high, singularly shaped, and on the other Tenby, a beautiful watering place, near the lighthouse on Caldy Island.

ST. CLEARS.

This is a mere nominal borough and market town, with a population of 1,129, engaged in the coasting and provision trade. There are the remains of a Norman castle and priory, given to All Soul’s College, Oxford.

PEMBROKESHIRE.

THE surface of this county is, generally speaking, composed of easy slopes, but not mountainous, except a ridge of hills which runs from the coast to the border of Carmarthenshire. Pembroke cannot boast of being either a trading or a manufacturing county, though it possesses many facilities for commerce. The South Wales mineral basin terminates here, and becomes shallower as it approaches the extremity. The strata are raised near the surface, and then the quality is impaired.

WHITLAND.

NARBERTH ROAD

(For Tenby).

FAIRS. —March 21st, May 13th, June 2nd and 29th, August 10th, September 22nd, October 27th, and December 11th.

NARBERTH is a small neat town in the county of Carmarthen, with a population of 1,209. It has the privilege of being represented in parliament in connection with the borough of Haverford-west, Fishguard, and St. Davids. It has no particular object of attraction, beyond being the best and nearest way by coach from Narberth Road station to the town of

TENBY.

TENBY, on the coast of Pembrokeshire, and eleven miles from Pembroke itself, was at a very remote period occupied by the ancient Britons as a fishing town, and is most romantically situated on the eastern and southern sides of a rocky peninsula, stretching out into the Bristol Channel, and rising to the elevation of 100 feet above the level of high water. The houses are well built, and command fine views of the sea; and the beautiful situation of the town, the fine beach, and firm and smooth sands, the transparency of the sea water, and the pleasant walks and extensive drives in the vicinity, have raised it from the decline into which it had for many years previously fallen to a high rank among the most favourite watering-places on the coast. Under the Castle-hill baths, provided with every convenience, are supplied by a capacious reservoir, filled from the sea at every tide. This establishment comprises two spacious pleasure-baths, one for ladies and one for gentlemen, four smaller cold-baths, and also a range of warm sea-water and vapour-baths, with apparatus for heating them to any degree of temperature required. The surrounding scenery is extremely beautiful and picturesque. The majestic masses of rock, of various forms and hues, which line the coast; the numerous bays and distant promontories that stretch out into the sea; the receding coast of Carmarthenshire, with the projecting headland of Gower enclosing the great bay of Carmarthen, on the western boundary of which the town is situated; the small islands of Caldey and Lundy, with the distant shores of Somersetshire and Devonshire, combine to impart a high degree of interest and variety to one of the finest marine expanses in the kingdom. On one side of the town there is a drive of eleven miles to the ancient town of Pembroke, through a fine campaign country, studded with churches, villages, and gentlemen’s seats, surrounded with plantations and pleasure-grounds, and on the other the country is agreeably diversified with swelling eminences, clothed with verdure, and small valleys richly wooded. The remains of the ancient castle are considerable, though in a very dilapidated condition. A portion of the keep still remains, and the principal gateway, with a square tower and a bastion, are also in a tolerable state of preservation. The ancient walls, which surrounded the town, are still in many places entire. The sands afford delightful promenades, and abound also with shells of varied descriptions, not less than one-half of the British collection of 600 varieties having been found on this coast, among which have been several of value commonly esteemed foreign. The church is a venerable and spacious structure, dating as far back as the year 1250. There is constant steam communication with Bristol.

CLARBESTON ROAD.

HAVERFORDWEST.

FAIRS. —March 20th, April 14th, May 12th, June 12th, July 18th, August 9th, September 4th and 23rd, October 18th, and December 10th.

HAVERFORDWEST is a borough town in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. It stands on a western branch of the river Claddau, which at spring tides is navigable for vessels of a hundred tons burden, and for whose accommodation a number of convenient quays have been erected. The town is built on the steep declivity of a hill, and presents a very picturesque appearance, as the houses rise in terraces one above the other, the whole being crowned by the ruins of the castle. The interior of the town, however, is in many respects inconvenient and disagreeable, as many of the streets are so narrow and steep as almost to prevent horses and carriages from ascending them. But, on the other hand, the spirit of modern improvement has prevailed to a considerable extent, and many new streets and public buildings have been erected. There are three churches, a handsome guild hall, the gaol, and the keep of an ancient castle.

MILFORD ROAD.

Johnston Hall, in the vicinity, is the seat of Lord Kensington. Anthracite, or smokeless coal, abounds in this district, and it is only wanting to be better known, in order to be generally used in the steamers belonging to the naval and merchant services. It was used by Her Majesty’s steam fleet at the review on the 23rd of April, 1856.

It has been proposed to construct a railway, 3½ miles long, from this station to the town of Milford; other modes of conveyance are at present in use.

MILFORD.

The town of Milford has a population of 3,007 partially engaged in ship-building. It is pleasantly situated; but since the removal of the royal dockyard and Irish packet station from here, about 1815, to Pater and Pembroke, on the opposite side of the Haven, its importance in a commercial point of view has much declined.

Milford is prettily situated on a sloping point of land, about six miles from the entrance of the Haven, to which it gives its name. Milford Haven ought to be viewed from the water. The lower and broadest portion of the Haven runs in an easterly direction for about twelve miles, and then turns abruptly to the north, forming several reaches towards Haverford-west. The scenery around Milford is very picturesque. On a fork of land, formed by the confluence of the two rivers Cleddy and Cleddau, stands Rose Castle, an ancient seat of the Owens, and higher up on the estuary is Picton Castle.

NEW MILFORD.

This has become a station of much importance, being the one used for the interchange of traffic to and from the South of Ireland.

PEMBROKE.

The capital of the county, and Pater or Pembroke Dock, the seat of a royal dockyard, at the head of that magnificent inlet called Milford Haven, opposite to Neyland station (from which it is distant 1½ mile), and the terminus of the South Wales line, opened in April, 1856. A branch is in progress to unite it with the main line and the beautiful watering place of Tenby; in conjunction with which, and two or three other little boroughs, it returns one member to parliament. Population, 15,071. Both the town and shire take name from the Welsh words, Pen fro, signifying the head of the peninsula, as the town lies on a long point, marked on both sides by a creek of Milford Haven. In this commanding spot, Arnulph de Montgomery began a Norman Castle in 1092, which a few years after was strengthened by the famous Richard de Clare, or Strongbow, before he sailed for the conquest of Ireland. Its ruins still exist on a hill over the town; the round keep is 75 feet high. There is a large cave under the hall; and in one of the town-gates the Earl of Richmond (whose mother was of the Welsh family of Tudlor or Tudor, descended from Edward I.) afterwards Henry VII, was born. He landed on this part of Wales after his escape from confinement in Brittany; and supported by Rhys ap Thomas, and other Welsh adherents, marched towards Bosworth Field, where his defeat of Richard III., and subsequent marriage with Elizabeth of York, terminated for ever the wars of the roses.

There is nothing else worth notice in the town, except the old church of St. Michael. Two short bridges cross to Monckton (where there was a priory), and to the suburbs on the north side, from whence roads, about 2 miles long, lead to Pembroke ferry and to the dockyard at Pater, which covers a site of 83 acres, 15 or 16 of which are occupied by iron building slips. The sea front is nearly half a mile long; one new slip has an open glass and metal roof. Important docks are in progress, which will cost £100,000. The whole is defended by strong forts at Hobb’s Point Jetty, formerly the station for the Waterford Mail Packets, now discontinued, near the large hotel. Until 1814 the dockyard was at Milford, 5 miles to the left, on the north side of the Haven, which has declined since its removal. The establishment of a packet station for New York and the south of Ireland, which is one of the chief objects contemplated by the South Wales Railway Company, may contribute to revive it. It possesses a little coasting trade. Pill Priory is near.

On Thorn Island, on the southern side of the entrance into Milford Haven, there are newly-erected fortifications, which are now strongly garrisoned. The noble Haven which it overlooks is in fact the mouth of the Cleddau or Cleddy, and is 12 miles long, by two miles broad, with 15 bays or creeks in it. As there is plenty of deep water, it would easily nold the entire British navy. At the entrance is St. Anne’s light. Imogen (one of the sweetest of Shakspeare’s heroines), says, in “Cymbeline,” when she receives her husband’s letter:—

“Oh for a horse with wings! Hear’st thou, Pisanio?

He is at Milford Haven. Read and tell me

How far ‘tis thither. If one of mean affairs

May plod it in a week, why may not I

Glide thither in a day? * *

* * * And, by the way.

Tell me how Wales is made so happy as

To inherit such a haven!”

Here, in “a mountainous country, with a cave,” disguised as a boy, the poor betrayed lady afterwards meets with her royal brothers Guiderus and Arviragus, supposed to be sons of the old shepherd Belarius.

‘Bel. This youth, howe’er distressed he appears, hath had Good ancestors.

Arv. How angel like he sings.

Gui. But his neat cookery! He cut our roots in characters;

And sauc’d our broths, as Juno had been sick,

And he her dieter.”

In the course of the plot, Lucius, the Roman General, lands here:—

“——— the legions garrisoned in Gallia,

After your will have coursed the sea; attending

You here at Milford Haven, with your ships.”

During the troubles of Henry IV.’s reign, a force of 12,000 French actually landed here to support the rising of Owen Glyndwr.

The península between Milford Haven and the Bristol Channel is bounded by a remarkable broken limestone coast, along which is a succession of the most striking views. When traversed from end to and, it is a walk, from Anglebay, at the Haven’s mouth to Tenby, in Carmarthen bay, of 20 or 25 miles. Cars may be hired, but, as inns are very rare, it is advisable to take provisions, or you must trust to the chance of shelter at some hospitable farm house. Of these, however, there are but few.

Starting from the old fort near Angle or Nangle Bay, you pass round the east side of the entrance to the Haven, with St. Anne’s Head and Light on the opposite side, and the island closing up St. Bride’s Bay, a most enchanting spot, in the distance behind. Rat and Sheep Islands are seen below, the latter near a Danish camp. The broad swell of the Atlantic dashes on the cliffs. At Gupton (seven miles from Angle fort) a little stream comes down to Freshwater Bay, from Castle Martin, an old place, noted for its breed of black hill cattle, and for a cromlech. It had a castle formerly. Brownslade, near it, is the seat of J. Mirehouse, Esq. At Linney Head (three miles from Gupton) the finest part of this coast trip commences. “A greater extent of carboniferous limestone is exposed to view along these shores than in any part of Britain.”—Cliffe’s Book of South Wales. Keep at the edge of the downs to enjoy it thoroughly. Out in the sea is the Crow rock, a dangerous one, covered at high water. The Castles are two rocks separated from the main land. Then Flimstone chapel (a ruin); near Bull’s Scaughter Bay, another group of stacks or castle rocks, swarming with razorbills, guillemots, kitti-wakes, and other sea birds, in a very wild part; another camp near a dark chasm, called the Devil’s Cauldron; and then St. Gwan’s Head (seven miles from Linney Head), so called, it is said, after King Arthur’s nephew, Sir Gawaine, or Gwain, of old romances. Here the cliffs are 160 or 170 feet high, and the strata in vast horizontal blocks In a gap, looking down to the sea, is a ruined hermitage, to which you descend by about 53 broken steps; it is only 20 feet long. The saint’s hiding place in the east wall, and his well are shown, with remnants of past superstition. Bosherston Meer, a little further, is a cave, which runs up the land more than quarter of a mile. The roaring of the waves and the wind along this natural tunnel is at times terrific. Before reaching it you pass a remarkable crack in the cliffs, called the Huntsman’s Leap. Across Broadhaven Creek (which runs up to Bosheston) to Stackpole Head; then Stackpole Park, the modern seat of the Earl of Cawdor, the chief owner of the soil in this quarter. There was a Norman castle of the 11th century here, built by a baron, whose effigy is in Cheriton church, Fine view from Windmill Hill. Round East Freshwater Bay and Swanslake Bay to Manorbeer Castle (8 miles from West Gwan’s) close to the shore. It is a fine existing specimen of what a feudal dwelling was in early times. It was built by William de Barri, and was the birth place of Giraldus de Barri (or Cambrensis, i.e., the Welshman); Lord Milford is the present owner. Hence, round Oldcastle Head and Lidstep Point, to Giltar Head (15 miles from Manor Bay), turning into Carnarvon Bay. Caldy Island and its lighthouse, about 2 miles off. About 20 miles to the E.S.E., if the weather is favourable, you may catch sight of the Worm’s Head, on the other side of the bay, a most striking object. Caldy has a chapel and remains of a priory upon it, incorporated with the seat of a gentleman who is lord of the island. At Penally, a pretty chapel and old cross; shells and seaweeds on the shore. Old castle at Trellowyn, and mineral springs at Gumperton. Then Tenby (2 or 3 miles from Giltar Point), a most delightful bathing place to stop at.

Up the Cleddy are Lawrenny Hall, seat of L. Phillipps, Esq., on a bold point where two creeks branch off, one to Carew, Landshipping Quay, near which the two Cleddys unite. The west Cleddy may be followed to Boulston, an old seat of the Wogans; and Haverfordwest. The east Cleddy, to Picton, Lord Milford’s seat—a well wooded park, with an old Norman castle; and Slebech, the seat of Baron de Rutzen. Here is an old church of the Knights Templars.

In the neighbourhood of Pembroke are the following:—Upton Castle, seat of Rev. W. Evans. Lamphey Court (2 miles), belongs to C. Mathias, Esq., and is close to the fine ruins of a deserted palace of the bishops of St. Davids, in a rich Gothic style; the great hall is 76 feet long. There is another by the same builder (Bishop Gower), at the city of St. Davids, the see of which, now much despoiled, had at one time six different residences for its prelates. Its cathedral, which is cruciform, 200 feet by 120 feet, with fine tower, 127 feet, is being restored, and contains the shrine visited by Henry I. and Edward I., the road to which (16 miles from Haverfordwest) is the most execrable in the United Kingdom, but replete with scenery magnificently grand. Carew (4 miles), is another of those old baronial seats so abundant in South Wales; it was built in Henry I.’s reign, by the ancestor of the Fitzgeralds. There are two great halls 100 feet and 80 feet long. Effigies in the church; and an old roadside cross, 14 feet high. Orielton (6 miles) belongs to the Owens.

There has been a Steam Packet communication opened out between this place and Ireland, of which the traveller, if he think fit, might avail himself. The Irish tour will be found at the end of this Section, at page 80 .

GREAT WESTERN.

Oxford to Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

WOODSTOCK ROAD.

FAIRS. —April 5th, Whit Tuesday, August 2nd, Oct. 2nd, Tuesday after Nov. 1st, and Dec. 17th.

The town of Woodstock has a population of 7,827, and returns one representative to parliament. Its principal trade consists in the manufacture of doeskin gloves and other leather productions. Great historical interest attaches to this place, as having been occasionally the residence of Henrys I. and II. It was here that Henry II. constructed the “bower” for fair Rosamond Clifford.

BANBURY.

FAIRS. —Thursday after Jan. 17th, first Thursday in Lent, second Thursday before Easter, Ascension Day, Thursday in Trinity Week, Old Lammas Day.

BANBURY is situated on the river Cherwell; the navigable canal from Coventry to Oxford passes by this town—and at a distance of five miles it is conveyed through a hill by a tunnel three quarters of a mile in length. In the grounds adjoining the Ram Inn is a well of sulphurated water; and at a short distance from the town is another spring of chalybeate water. The pyrites aureas, or golden fire-stone is often found here in digging wells. A great number of the inhabitants are employed in the manufactory of plush and shag cloth. Banbury is famous for its cakes, cheese, and ale—the former being still sold in the metropolis. Here was the scene of the defeat of the Yorkists at Danesmere, in 1469, when the Earl of Pembroke, with several others, were beheaded.

LEAMINGTON AND WARWICK.

HATTON. —A short line, 8¼ miles long, here turns off to the left, running viâ CLAVERDON, BEARLEY, and WILMCOTE, to

HOCKLEY, SOHO (junction of the Stour Valiey Line), HANDSWORTH, WEST BROMWICH, and SWAN VILLAGE stations.

WEDNESBURY.

This is a very old market town, having a population of 15,298, almost entirely engaged in the iron trade—every description of cast-iron work being done here. Its products of coal and iron are of a very valuable description, the coal beds varying in thickness from three to fourteen feet. It is of a very superior quality. There are some traces of an old fort of Saxon origin. The interior of the church, a neat Gothic structure of the eighth century, has some beautiful carving, with several monuments of the predecessors of the families of Lords Dudley and Harcourt.

BILSTON.

This place forms a great centre of the iron trade, and has become one of growing importance. The people are engaged in the manufacture of almost everything useful in iron and steel wares, and the districts around are rich in the products of iron coal, quarry-stone, &c., &c.

WOLVERHAMPTON.

BANKERS. — Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Bank, Old Church Yard; Bilston District Bank, Cock Street; Messrs. Holyoake and Co.’s Bank, Cock Street; Messrs. Fryer’s Bank, Lichfield Street.

This ancient town, which in Saxon times was noted for its college, founded by Wulfruna, sister of King Egbert, and thence called Wulfrunes-hampton, from which it derives the modern name, is now a parliamentary borough (two members), and the capital of the iron trade. By the North Western, or narrow-gauge line, it is 126 miles from London (or 13 miles from Birmingham); by the broad gauge, viâ Oxford and Worcester, 142 miles. The branch covers about 30 square miles of barren soil, beneath which are rich crops of coal, iron, and stone. Population 147,670. All kinds of articles in iron, brass, tin-plate, japan work, &c., are made here, as locks and keys, hinges, fenders, coffee mills, tea trays, bolts, files, screws, and other tools, besides engines, &c. Smelting-houses and foundries abound on all sides (see Bradshaw’s Hand-Book to the Manufacturing Districts ). The making of tin-plate, that is, of iron tinned over, is a staple business. That of japanning was first introduced by Baskerville, the Birmingham printer, whose portrait may be seen in the counting-house of Messrs. Longman, in Paternoster Row.

Wolverhampton stands on high ground, and has never suffered from the plague, but it did not escape the cholera in 1849, though the deaths were few compared with those at Bilston and Willenhall. The houses are of brick, and there are not any remarkable edifices. The Grammar School, founded in 1513 by a native, who became lord mayor of London, is well endowed, and replaces a hospital built by the Leveson or “Luson” (ancestors of the Gower) family. There is a literary institute with a public library.

Of its eight churches, St. Peter’s is the most ancient and striking. It is a later English cross, having a tall tower and carved stone pulpit, with monuments of the Levesons, and of Colonel Lane, who, with his sister, were the means of effecting the escape of Charles II., after the battle of Worcester, 1651. It was that officer who was hid away with the king in the Royal Oak. A pillar cross in the churchyard is 20 feet high. Until lately, the manor belonged to the dean and chapter of Windsor, to whom it was granted by Edward IV.

Before proceeding further North, we will retrace our journey to Oxford, and introduce our traveller to some of the scenes of Shakspeare.

WEST MIDLAND (Oxford Section).

Oxford to Chipping Norton Junction.

HANDBOROUGH (Junction).

BLENHEIM PARK to the right. A government grant of half a million of money was expended in the erection of a magnificent palace at this place for the Duke of Marlborough in the reign of Queen Anne. Besides a beautiful chapel, it contains a library of more than 17,000 volumes. It also contained a most costly collection of paintings, until recently (1861), the most valuable portion of them having been accidentally destroyed by fire. It is a calamity the nation will deeply deplore. The grounds are laid out with great taste; and the park, which is richly wooded, is about 2,700 acres in extent.

Thence crossing the Evenlode several times in our course, and skirting the park rails of the Duke of Beaufort’s princely domain, Blandford Park, we arrive at

CHARLBURY.

Ditchley (2 miles), Lord Dillon, was the birthplace of the notorious Lord Rochester. Near it is Kiddington, with an old church, of which Wharton was rector. 6 miles distant is Heythorpe, another seat of the Duke of Beaufort. Glympton, on the river Gline, E. Way, Esq. From this station Wychwood Forest, (a fine wooded track of much sylvan beauty) soon to be reclaimed, may be visited. Wharton the poet has immortalised the scenery about here. Still passing along the valley of the Evenlode, we pass. ASCOTT station, arriving at

SHIPTON.

4 miles south is the old town of Burford, full of quaint houses, with paneled gables and tracery work. The church is cruciform, with several large chapels attached, all partaking of the Norman or early perpendicular character. A battle took place here in 752 between the rival Kings of Wessex and Mercia. Three miles on the Northleach road is Lord Dynevor’s elegant mansion at Barrington.

CHIPPING NORTON BRANCH,

CHIPPING NORTON.

An old Market town situated on the rise of a hill. There is a Free Grammar School, and a venerable church with an embattled tower, and an ancient rood loft. In the vicinity are Knollbury banks, an old encampment, and there is the site of an old castle, beyond is Cornewell (2½ miles), —— Pennystones, Esq.; Heythorpe (2 miles); and Great Tew Park (4 miles); and an interesting Druidical remain called the Rollrich stones (3 miles).

Another branch line turns off to the left from this junction to BOURTON-ON-THE- WATER, a small village on the side of a Roman Foss-way, leading from Cirencester to Stow-on-the-Wold.

ADDLESTROP AND STOW ROAD.

Dalesford House, the seat of the celebrated Warren Hastings, and Addlestrop House, of the Leigh family, are close by. Stow-on-the-Wold, is a small market town on the summit of a hill, 883 feet high. The church, with its embattled tower 81 feet high, is consequently a prominent object through a circumference of many miles. It has many points and some curious monuments deserving attention.

MORETON-IN-THE-MARSH.

A small town on the old Foss Way; an old building once the Market House stands in the centre In the vicinity are Batsford (3 miles), Lord Redesdale. Seisincote (2 miles), the four mile-stone (2 miles), where Oxfordshire, Glo’ster, Worcester, and Warwickshires unite, and where Canute was defeated by Edmund Ironside.

BLOCKLEY, CAMPDEN, and HONEYBOURNE stations, the last of which is the junction of the branch to the classic town of Stratford.

STRATFORD-ON-AVON BRANCH.

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON.

HOTELS. —Shakspeare, Ann Hitcham, Family and Commercial—comfortable house; White Lion, John Warden; Red Horse, John Gardner.

BANKERS. —Branch of Warwick and Leamington Banking Co.; Branch of Stourbridge and Kidderminster Banking Co.

This interesting part of Warwickshire is directly accessible by a branch of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, by which means it is within about 100 miles journey by rail from London. A Roman road, called the Fossway, crossed the river at this point, and hence the name. It is a municipal borough, but derives its chief importance from being the birthplace of Shakspeare, who was born here 23rd April (St. George’s day), 1564, in an old-fashioned timbered house, opposite the Falcon, in Henley Street, which, after some changes, and the risk even of being transferred as it stood to America, by a calculating speculator, was at last purchased by the Shakspeare Club, and adopted by Government as a tribute to his memory.

And to which the genius of one man has given immortality, is situated on a gentle ascent from the river Avon, in the county of Warwick. If the visitor ascends the uplands on the high road to Warwick, he will behold a panorama of remarkable richness and variety. Hill and dale in graceful undulations—luxuriant wooded parks—the winding Avon tracked by the fringe of willows on its banks—the peaceful town and its venerable church—and, afar off, the gradually towering outline of the Malvern hills form, altogether, a landscape essentially English, and such as is rarely to be found in any other country than our own. But rich and pleasant as the prospect is, it takes its crowning glory from the immortal poet, the mighty genius whose dust reposes at our feet. It is his genial spirit which pervades and sanctifies the scene; and every spot on which the eye can rest claims some association with his life. We tread the very ground that he has trod a thousand times, and feel as he has felt.

Four rooms in this house remain probably as they were in the poet’s days; and in one of them he was born. The whitewashed walls are covered with names of visitors, who also enter them in a book, or rather a work, which now extends to several volumes. It was inhabited by the descendants of his sister Jane till 1806, and used as butcher’s shop and a public house. Many of the houses wear still an air of picturesque antiquity, especially a carved one in High Street. Here also are the Town Hall and Market House, both modern buildings. But the Guildhall, which belonged to an early religious foundation, is an ancient pile of the 15th century, used as a Free Grammar School, having an oak roof, &c. Here Shakspeare received his education—his father being a glover. The Town Hall is embellished with Shakspeare’s statue (the gift of Garrick), and contains Wilson’s portrait of him, and Gainsborough’s of Garrick, who presided at the Shakspeare Jubilee, in 1769 (the year after the hall was rebuilt). It was celebrated on the 6th and 7th September, with great rejoicing. Dr. Arne performed his oratorio of Judith at the church, and the dedication ode was recited by Garrick; after which another actor (King), in the character of a macaroni or dandy, attacked Shakspeare as “an ill-bred fellow, who made people laugh and cry as he thought proper.” On this occasion, the corporation presented Garrick with a medallion of the Poet, cut out of his mulberry tree —the famous tree under which Garrick and Macklin were entertained in 1742, by Sir Hugh Clopton, at New Place, where Shakspeare died, on his birth-day in 1616, exactly 53 years old.

From the old bridge, built in the reign of Henry VIII. by Lord Mayor Clopton, there is a full view of the venerable old church, and the placid scenery by which it is surrounded. It stands close to the river by itself, on the south side of the town, at the end of an avenue of limes; and is an early Gothic edifice, lately restored by the Shakspeare Club (which meets here every 23rd of April), with a lofty octagonal spire. Entering the carved porch and oak door, you come upon a view of the spacious interior, with its stained windows, Clopton banners and escutcheons, carved stalls (for its college principals), and the great Poet’s Monument on the west side of the chancel. It is a half figure of him, sitting as if about to write (the pen has been stolen), under a Grecian (not Gothic) niche in the wall. The bust was originally flesh-coloured, but, horrid to relate, it was painted white in 1793, at the suggestion of his deluded commentator, Malone. Some lines in English (there are also two in Latin) beginning, “Stay, passenger, why goest thou so fast?” contain (perhaps have been borrowed), the germ of Milton’s noble lines. The ashes of Shakspeare lie under the slab immediately below, inscribed with the well-known verse, “Good friend, for Jesvs’ sake, forbeare,” &c. His wife, Anne Hathaway, died in 1623; his favourite daughter, Susanna Hall, and his old friend, John à-Combe, lie near—the latter under an effigy by G. Johnson, the author of the poet’s bust. “There are other monuments around, but the mind refuses to dwell on anything that is not connected with Shakspeare. His idea pervades the place; the whole pile seems but as his mausoleum. * * Its spire is the beacon, towering amidst the gentle landscape, to guide the literary pilgrim of every nation to his tomb.”—W. Irving’s Sketch Book.

STRATFORD CHURCH, AND THE RIVER AVON. —Even divested of the abounding interest which association with the name of Shakspeare gives to them, there is something eminently striking and picturesque in the appearance of the church and river from the neighbouring meadows. The Avon, which, from its source at Naseby, winds like a silver thread through fertile vallies and rich groves in peacefulness and beauty, at this point takes a broader sweep, and proudly swells, as conscious of the tutelary genius of the spot. The church, too, here encircled by its lofty elms, and standing on the river’s brink, has a grand and venerable aspect.

THE TOMB OF SHAKSPEARE. —From the town, the approach to the church is through an avenue of lime trees, arched overhead; this terminates at the north entrance into the nave, which consists of a handsome porch, buttressed and embattled, and apparently of a later date than the adjoining aisle. The first impression upon entering through the porch is one of grateful wonder at the elegance and amplitude of the interior. At a glance we can scan the lofty roof, the transepts, chancel, nave, and aisles. We catch the delicate tracery of the windows, and their dim religious light; we see the noble monuments and stately effigies, but the mind refuses yet to ponder on these things,

and noiselessly we hasten forward till we reach the spot “where sleeps the Monarch of the Mind.”

The far-famed mural monument and bust are on the left of the chancel, immediately above the line of graves containing the remains of the Poet, his daughter Susanna, her husband, Dr. Hall, and in all probability, many others of the family. The bust is of the size of life, and stands fixed under an arch between two Corinthian columns of black marble. There are several inscriptions upon the tablets.

Below the monument, upon the stone covering the Poet’s grave, are the following extraordinary lines:—

“Good friend for Jesvs’ sake, forbeare,

To dig the dust enclosed here,

Blest be ye man yt spares these stones,

And cyrst be he that moves my bones.”

It has been conjectured that Shakspeare’s anxiety for the repose of his bones might have arisen from there being a door immediately below his bust, which formerly gave access to the charnel house.

But, whatever may have been his motive, we owe to this inscription the preservation of these sacred relics for upwards of two hundred years; and we trust the simple, but impressive denunciation, will cause them to remain undisturbed.

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON.

“Thou cradle of the Bard ! What glories grace thee!

Thee, deathless Avon, and thy willowed stream,

Where many a pilgrim comes and loves to trace

The scenes that nurtured Shakspeare’s godlike dreams.

The humblest sod whereon a daisy grows

Is hallow’d ground.

There stands the cottage where the Muse watch’d o’er

Her favourite child, and yon is Lucy’s lawn

Often thereon the Poet loved to pore

Over visions which began to dawn

And beamed of immortality—yon fane

Enshrines his ashes, and the lowliest hind

Holds his breath as though ‘twould stain

The slab where sleeps the Monarch of the Mind.”

The country round Stratford is peculiarly English—gardens, orchards, green meadows, a park here and there, and gently swelling hills,—but nothing striking. At Shottery, a little on the Alcester road, is the rustic cottage in which Ann Hathaway lived, and which was inhabited by her family down to 1838; it is built in the usual way, of stone and timber, and thatched. One mile north, are Clopton House (three centuries old), and Welcombe, the seat of C. Warde, Esq., under the hills, from which there are some good prospects of the town and county. Ingon House was Shakspeare’s at his death, having been bought by him in 1597, though built originally by the Cloptons, into whose hands it returned, by purchase from the poet’s descendants after the Restoration. In 1752 it was sold to Mr. Gathell, a Lichfield clergyman, who, on account of a dispute about the rating, pulled it down. He had already cut down the poet’s tree, to save himself the trouble of showing it to visitors. Fortunately, a cutting was planted by Garrick over the grave of Shakspeare’s favourite grand-child, Lady Barnard, in Abington churchyard (near Northampton), and another is said to be at East Cliffe (Hastings); while the remains of the desecrated tree were sold in the shape of boxes, cups, &c., by Mr. T. Sharp, of Stratford. Immediately behind was a little farm which belonged to Shakspeare’s mother. Alveston, T. Townshend, Esq., on the Avon, is near Charlecote (or Chalcot as it is called), the seat of G. Lucy, Esq., a truly old English pile, of the Elizabethan age, built of brick in 1558, by Sir Thomas Lucy, the poet’s Justice Shallow. The “Three Luces” or pikes swimming among cross cross-lets, are here conspicuous; and they are seen again in the church, which has been lately rebuilt. Alscot Park, on the Stour, belongs to J. West, Esq.; further up the stream is Eatington, the old seat of E. Shirley, Esq. To the west are Piping Peb-worth, and Dancing Marston, as they are universally called, in some lines attributed, of course, to Shakspeare.

West Midland Main Line Continued.
Honeybourne to Worcester and Wolver-hampton.

EVESHAM.

This place has a population of 4,680, engaged chiefly in agriculture, with a little stocking and ribbon manufacture. It was remarkable for its mitred Abbey, founded by St. Egwin in 709. The tower and gateway still remain.

PERSHORE.

FAIRS. —Easter Tuesday, June 26th, Thursday before All Saints, and November 1st

The staple manufacture here is stockings. At this place the ruins of the Abbey House, the only relics of a large monastic establishment, may be seen. The situation of the town is very beautiful, and the surrounding scenery is picturesque, particularly Aylesborough, about a mile from the town.

WORCESTER.

FAIRS. —Saturday before Palm Sunday, Saturday before Easter, August 15th, September 19th, and 1st Monday in December.

WORCESTER, the capital of Worcestershire, in a fine part of the Severn, is a parliamentary borough (two members), and seat of a diocese, with a population of 31,227.

One distinct branch of manufacture is glove making, to the amount of half-a-million pairs of leather and kid gloves annually, employing between one thousand and two thousand persons. Another is boots and shoes; and the third is fine porcelain china, which was established here about a century ago by Dr. Wall (the same who made the Malvern Waters known). Chamberlain and Grainger’s are the two oldest.

The main streets, High Street, Foregate, and Broad Street, are well-built, broad, and clean; and most of the houses of brick. Stone is abundant. A fine view from Froster.

Worcester, which the Saxons called Weorgauceaster, and similar names, being near the Welsh border, was provided with a fortress by the Conqueror. It was built by Urso d’Abitot, on Castle Hill; the county gaol occupies the site, built in 1819. No traces are left, nor of the city wall, which was erected at the same period.

The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter, was formerly the church of a priory, founded by the Saxon kings. It stands on the south side of the city, between the river and the Birmingham canal. The oldest part dates from 1218, when it was rebuilt after a fire. The style, therefore, is early English, of a simple and unadorned character; the crypt, however, is Norman. It is shaped like a double cross, 384 feet long, and has a handsome tower, 170 feet high, se off by pinnacles and statues in niches, especially that of St. Wulstan. There is a well-carved bishop’s throne, and an excellent organ. Music festivals are held here for the benefit of widows and orphans of clergymen, every third year, in turn with Gloucester and Hereford. That in 1788 was attended by George III., and the west window put in to commemorate his visit. The east window was finished in 1792. Another has been stained in memory of the late Queen Adelaide. Many interesting monuments are seen; among which, the oldest is King John’s, whose body was shown to crowds of people in 1797, and replaced. Another ancient tomb is Lyttleton’s, the lawyer (Coke on Lyttleton), who died in 1481; a Beauchamp, and two Crusaders, in effigy; Arthur, son of Henry VII. (whose widow, Katherine, was married to Henry VIII.); the excellent Bishop Hough; the bas-reliefs, twelve in number, being some of the best works of the sculptor, Roubiliac; Bishops Gauden and Stillingfleet, the former the author of Eickon Basilike, or the Image of a King, which so much strengthened the sympathy for Charles I. after his death, and several older prelates. In the Cathedral Precincts are the cloisters, 120 feet square, a Gothic chapter house, of ten sides, a copy of Rubens’ Descent from the Cross, a King’s College or School, founded by Henry VIII.; and an old palace, from which there are good prospects. Portraits of George III. and Queen Charlotte are here. There is another of the king in the Guildhall, in the market-place, a brick building, erected in 1723. It contains regal portraits of Charles I. and II. (with their statues), Queen Anne, and other personages, in the large hall, which is 110 feet long. The new Corn Exchange is here; Hop Market in Foregate. A theatre was built in 1780, and is 66 feet high. Handsome bridge across the Severn, built in 1781, on five arches. It has a fine view of the Malvern, Welsh, and Lickey Hills, and the beautiful fruit and hop country in the neighbourhood. In the Grammar School, founded by Queen Elizabeth, Lord Somers was educated: he was born here in 1650. Another student was S. Butler, the poet, a native of Strensham, near Pershore.

Of the twelve city churches, several deserve notice. St. Andrew’s, near the cathedral, is an early Gothic church, with a beautiful spire, built in the last century by a common mason; it is 155 feet high, and only 20 feet diameter at the bottom, where it rests on a tower 90 feet high. St. Peter’s, in Diglis Meadow, was originally built in the thirteenth century. Near this is the little harbour made by the junction of the canal with the river. Close to it are St. Alban’s and St. Helen’s, both very old churches. Across the bridge is St. Clement’s, a Norman copy of a former church. St. John’s, Bedwardine, is also half Norman.

There are several charitable institutions here, amply endowed, such as Queen Hospital, for twenty-nine women; St. Oswald’s, for twenty-eight women; Judge Berkeley’s, for twelve persons; and the General Infirmary (near the Gaol and the Race Course), on Pitchcroft Meadow, founded in 1770. The various charities possess an income of £4,500 a-year. A large House of Industry stands not far from the Gas Works. Near Sidbury Gate there stood not long ago part of a very old hospital. where the second Duke of Hamilton died of the wounds which he received in the famous Battle of Worcester, which was fought on the 3rd September, 1651, in Perry Wood, on Red Hill. Charles II., who was crowned here a little while before, occupied an old house (which is still standing) in New Street, from which he escaped by the back door, as the enemy pushed in at the front; and, accompanied by Lord Rochester and Father Hubblestone, his confessor, fled to White Ladies’ Nunnery, at Boscabel. Cromwell styled this decisive battle his “crowning mercy,” and named a ship, which was launched from Woolwich yard, the “Worcester,” in consequence.

WORCESTER AND HEREFORD.

Leaving Worcester in a south westerly direction, a run of twenty-five minutes brings us, via the stations of HENWICK, BRANSFORD ROAD, and MALVERN LINK, to the important town of

GREAT MALVERN.

HOTELS: —Imperial, 1st, 2nd and 3rd class, for families and gentlemen. This hotel, built to supply a want very generally felt, is distinguished for its architectural beauty, and for the extent and completeness of its appliances for the comfort and convenience of its guests. The name of the manager (Mr. Curtis), and his long experience in the business, are, we think, sufficient guarantees to those who may patronise the establishment, that it is efficiently and economically conducted. Visitors hitherto have experienced considerable inconvenience from the want of good hotel accommodation at Malvern, but we have no doubt that the establishment of such a first class hotel as the Imperial will induce numbers to visit the beauties and attractions of the country in the midst of which it is situated, and to enjoy the well known salubrity of the Malvern Hills as a place of temporary residence. We understand that the arrangements embrace the new feature of providing accommodation for first, second, and third class travellers.

MALVERN WELLS, 2 miles from Great Malvern. Hotels —Essington’s; Admiral Benbow; St. Ann’s, and Holywell.

WEST MALVERN, situated on the opposite side of the hills to that of Great Malvern, and distant from it about 3 miles by the turnpike road, but not more than 1½ mile across the hill. Hotel —The West-minster Arms.

A healthy, fashionable, and agreeable watering place, consisting of Great and Little Malvern, about four miles apart. Both lie on the slope of the Malvern Hills, a long blue smooth ridge, on the borders of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, dividing the valleys of the Severn and Wye. The Worcestershire Beacon, near Great Malvern, is 1,300 feet high; while the Herefordshire Beacon, near Little Malvern, is 1,440 feet. Limestone and sandstone, with sienite, granite, &c., are the chief ingredients in this range, which is green to the summit, and produces excellent mutton. Though now rather bare, it was formerly well-wooded, and still offers much attractive scenery. But the chief recommendation, next to the mineral springs, is the pure and invigorating air, an advantage which readers it well adapted for the fashionable hydropathic, or Water-Cure, system here carried out with much success at the establishments of Drs. Gully and Wilson. Its merits, and the scenery of the neighbourhood have been described by Lane and Bulwer. Sheridan Knowles and his wife (née Miss Elphinstone), were patients. Hotels and boarding-houses are numerous, and the walks and drives of great beauty.

St. Anne’s and Holywell, springs much resorted to, are slightly tepid and sulphurated, and useful, especially in glandular and skin complaints. Pumprooms are attached to each, and a church has been lately built at the Holywell, which is nearest Little Malvern. Great Malvern Church is a handsome later Gothic cross, built by the Sir Reginald Bray, who designed Henry VII.’s beautiful chapel at Westminster. It contains some ancient effigies which were in the former church, and a modern tomb, by Hollins, to Mrs. Thompson, of Malvern Priory. This seat adjoins the gate and other remains of a religious house, founded at the Conquest, of which the author of the Visions of Piers Plowmen was a member. The parish church of Little Malvern also deserves notice for its antiquity, stained windows, &c., though it is partly dilapidated. The seat of Lady Clare, an old timbered house, and the Roman Catholic chapel, are picturesquely situated. Great Malvern church also possesses some good painted glass.

The prospect from the hills embraces part of eight or nine counties, including the vales of the Severn and Evesham, or the Avon, the cathedrals of Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford, Tewkesbury Minster, the Welsh Hills, &c., and is the finest in the kingdom. The beacons above-mentioned were fortresses which commanded the passes through the hills. In one part are seen the remains of a trench which marked the boundary of the chase as divided between the Bishop of Hereford and the Duke of Gloucester.

In the neighbourhood of Worcester are many other interesting spots:—Bevere (2 miles), supposed to have been a beaver colony, is a handsome seat on an island in the Severn, from which the Malvern hills are visible. Hither the citizens retreated during the plague of 1637, and it is frequented for bathing. Perdiswell is the seat of Sir O. Wakeman, Bart. Claines is near the remains of White Ladies’ or Whitestone Nunnery, in which are preserved the bed and cup of Queen Elizabeth, who visited it in 1585. (This is distinct from White Ladies above mentioned). Hendlip or Hindlip, the seat of Viscount Southwell, stands on the site of an old building in which Thomas Abingdon lived when he hid away some of the Powder Plotters in the secret passages which abounded in it. It was the wife of this Thomas who wrote the anonymous letter to her brother, Lord Monteagle, which led James I. to discover the plot. Westwood Park, near Droitwich, the fine old Elizabethan seat of Sir J. Pakington, Bart, fourth in descent (by the mother’s side), from Sir Herbert Pakington, the “Sir Roger de Coverley” of Addison. Ombersley Park belongs to Lord Sandys, a descendant of Sandys, the poet, and Archbishop Sandys; it contains many old portraits. Hartlebury Castle, near Stourport, the seat of the Bishops of Worcester for many centuries past; but most of it was rebuilt after the Restoration. Hanbury Hall, B. Vernon, Esq., an old seat. Spetchley Park, another old seat of the Berkeleys, now of R. Berkeley, Esq., their monuments are in the church. Croome Park, one of the largest in the county, is the seat of Earl Coventry, formerly of Urso d’Abitot, first earl of Worcester. The parish is called Croome d’Abitot. Madresfield, Earl Beauchamp’s old seat, is full of fine ancient portraits, &c. Their old seat was at Powick, called Beauchamp’s Court. Boughton, on the Teme, (which joins the Severn a little below the city), is the seat of J. W. Isaac, Esq. At Hatton Park there is a useful mineral spring, the property of J. Mann, Esq.

At Upton (9 miles), the celebrated Dr. Dee, the astrologer, was born. Near Malvern, in the direction of Upton, is a small but exquisitely built and decorated Roman Catholic chapel, and priest’s residence.

LEDBURY,

A place remarkable for its manufacture of rope, twine, &c., also cider and perry.

It stands on the banks of the Leddon, at the foot of the Malvern Hills, and has a fine old Norman Church with a beautiful window and spire. The sexton is a rare oddity, full of wit and anecdote. There is an ancient market house. Hop fields and orchards are seen here, reminding one of Kent. About a mile to the east of the town is situated Eastnor Park, the magnificent residence of Earl Somers, a descendant of the great lawyer of William III.’s time, the view from the summit of which is very imposing.

STOKE EDITH. —To the south of this lie Stoke Edith Park, seat of E. Foley, Esq., and Aconbury Hill, on the top of which are a Roman camp and traces of a priory.

DROITWICH JUNCTION.

DROITWICH is built on the banks of the river Salwarpe. It possesses a canal six miles in length, and capable of admitting vessels of 600 tons burden, and communicates with the river Severn. Its principal manufacture is that of fine salt, which is obtained by evaporating the water of brine springs, which are more than 100 feet below the surface of the earth.

HARTLEBURY.

SEVERN VALLEY.

Hartlebury to Shrewsbury.

Taking a north-westerly direction, this line runs via STOURPORT, a small town trading in glass, corn, timber, &c., to the town of

BEWDLEY.

This place is situated on the Severn, which, by its navigation, contributes largely to its prosperity. The town is composed of one long street, intersected by the river; a little outside is Wassel Hill, on which there is a Roman Camp, also Wassel House, the residence of G. Hallen, Esq.

BRIDGNORTH.

This is a considerable town, of about 7,699 inhabitants, situated on both sides of the Severn, the two parts being distinguished by the names of Upper and Lower, and connected by a noble bridge of six arches. It has a considerable carrying trade on the river; in other respects it is of a miscellaneous character. The promenade outside the town should be visited.

The several stations of LINLEY, COALPORT (the junction of a short line to Wellington). IRONBRIDGE, and BUILDWAS are passed. At the latter place may be seen the remains of the Cistercian Abbey, built by Roger, Bishop of Chester, in the twelfth century. It also forms the junction of a line to

MUCH WENLOCK,

A town of some importance, situated near the northern base of the Wenlock Edge, a range of limestone hills extending about 14 miles to the south-west. Population, 21,590. The splendid remains of a cluniac monastery, consisting of the church and part of the chapter-house, should be seen. Besides the church, with its library in connection therewith, it has its philanthropic institutions, together with the usual characteristics of a well regulated chartered town.

Returning to Buildwas Junction we pass on vià the stations of CRESSAGE and BERRINGTON to the old parliamentary town of

KIDDER MINSTER.

KIDDERMINSTER stands on both banks of the river Stour, which divides it into two unequal parts, and the buildings extend in a continued range from north to south-east, nearly a mile in length, and taken as a whole it forms a very regular and compact town, consisting principally of two good streets, one parallel to the canal, and the other forming part of the road to Birmingham. It returns one member. Population, 15,399. The church stands at the end of a street leading from the market-place, in a commanding situation, on the brow of a hill. It is a handsome Gothic building—the windows have very rich tracery, and the view of the town is uncommonly fine. There is a well-conducted and amply-endowed grammar school, founded by Charles the First. Kidderminster has long been celebrated for its manufactures, which are now on a very extensive scale, especially that of carpets, which has become very extensive, and has most essentially promoted the trade, wealth, and population of the town.

HAGLEY. —Here is the splendid mansion of the first Lord Lyttleton; its picture gallery is attractive, and the scenery afforded by the situation of the hall itself beatiful and extensive. The family tomb may be seen in the church.

STOURBRIDGE.

A handsome town, noted for its glass manufacture. Population 8,166. The surrounding districts abound in iron, coal. &c.

A line of 2¼ miles diverges from here to the right, via the station of LYE to the village of CRADLEY, in the vicinity of which some hops are grown.

DUDLEY.

DUDLEY is a borough town in the county of Worcester. It received its name from a celebrated Saxon chieftain, who, as early as the year 700, built the Castle which commands the town.

The night view from Dudley Castle of the coal and iron districts of South Staffordshire reminds the spectator of the Smithy of Vulcan, described by Homer. The lurid flames that issue from the summits of the huge columnar chimnies light up the horizon for miles around, and impart to every object a gloomy aspect. On whichever side the view is taken in open day, the evidences of mining industry present themselves, in the vast number of smoking, fiery, and ever active works, which teem in this part of South Staffordshire. Taking Dudley Castle as a centre, we have to the north, Tipton, Gornal, Sedgley, Bilston. Wolverhampton, Willenhall, and Wednesfield. More easterly we find Great Bridge, Toll End, Darlaston, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, and Swan Village, which is a similar group to the former, and marked with precisely the same features—mining perforations, red brick houses, and black smoke. Turning towards the south, we find the iron towns fewer and wider apart, and lying, as it were, confusedly in four counties—Birmingham, for instance in Warwickshire; Smethwick, Dudley Port, Rowley Regis, Wordsley, and Kingswinford in Staffordshire; Oldbury, Hales Owen, Dudley, and Stourbridge, in Worcestershire. So singular, indeed is the intersection of these four counties that in going from Birmingham to Dudley Castle, by way or Oldbury—a distance of about eight miles by coach-road—we pass out of Warwick into Staffordshire, thence into Worcester, and a third time into Staffordshire, for although Dudley town is in Worcestershire, Dudley Castle and grounds are in Staffordshire. These several towns belong to the mining and manufacturing district, known by the name of the South Staffordshire coal field district, because it has a layer of coal running, so far as is known, beneath its surface.

Dudley Castle belongs to Lord Ward, who is also proprietor of a considerable portion of Dudley and its mines. It is situated in a large and highly picturesque park; and, with its warders’ watch and octagon towers, triple gate, keep, vault and dungeon, dining, and justice halls, and chapel, though in a state of dilapidation, must be considered as a fine old ruin. The view from the summit of the keep is wide-spreading and singularly interesting; to the north-cast you have Lichfield cathedral; to the east, the busy hive of Birmingham; whilst to the south-west, nature has formed the Malvern Hills. These objects are all visible, and form an interesting background to the environs of Dudley.

As the eye sweeps the horizon from the summit of the keep, to discern the precise character of each object and locality, the mind is struck with one particular fact, that almost every town, village, house, man, woman, child, every occupation and station, are more or less dependent on, and are at the mercy of, lumps of coal and iron, and that the human race will mainly owe their moral regeneration to these two materials. The miner digs, the roaster calcines, the smelter reduces, the founder casts, the blacksmith forges, and the whitesmith files; these are but parts of the vast hive, whose busy hum of industry is heard far and wide, and whose skilful handiworks find a ready reception in every quarter of the globe. Leave Birmingham to itself, and direct your eye to West Bromwich—which has sprung up as it were but yesterday—and there you will perceive the best puddlers at work—the converters of pig-iron into its barred state—by far the most important of all the processes in the manufacture of that metal. Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, Bilston, and Dudley, have each their respective industries, and carry the division of labour to the minutest degree. Bloxwich, is almost exclusively employed in making awl-blades and bridle-bits; Wednesfield keeps to its locks, keys, and traps; Darlaston its gun-locks, hinges, and stirrups; Walsall its buckles, spurs, and bits; Wednesbury its gas-pipes, coach springs, axles, screws, hinges, and bolts; Bilston its japan-work and tin-plating; Sedgley and its neighbourhood, its nails; Willenhall its locks, keys, latches, curry-combs, bolts, and gridirons; Dudley its vices, fire-irons, nails, and chains; Tipton its heavy iron-work; while Wolverhampton includes nearly all these employments in metal work. Looking further south, there may be descried Oldbury, Smethwick, Rowley Regis, Hales Owen, and Stourbridge—all of which are engaged in some form or another, in the manufacture of iron. We have not space to enlarge upon these facts, which are only a few in the vast multitude that are comprised in the area over which the view from the Castle extends, and therefore must content ourselves with laying a single one before the reader. The quantity of cast-iron produced throughout England and Scotland in 1851, amounted to nearly three millions of tons, and the share in that production by this district may be estimated at about one-third of that quantity, or five millions in value. Assuredly this limited area presents the most remarkable concentration of industry of which the world can boast.

SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE.

Dudley to Walsall, Derby, and Burton.

On leaving Dudley, we pass the stations of DUDLEY PORT, GREAT BRIDGE, and WEDNESBURY, and arrive at

WALSALL.

This is a borough town, population 37,760, who return one member. The principal buildings are the church (rebuilt in 1821 on the site of an old one), old Town Hall, Queen Mary’s grammar school (in which Lord Chancellor Saunders and Bishop Hough were educated), Harper’s almshouses, and the manufactories of sadlers’ ironmongery, which constitutes the principal trade of the place. In the vicinity are Springfield, R. Jesson, Esq., and Bentley Hall, E. Anson, Esq.

PELSALL.

TRENT VALLEY JUNCTION.

At this point an important connection takes place with the main line of the London and North Western, enabling parties to go to almost any part, north or south, of England.

ALREWAS.

In the vicinity is Needwood Forest, belonging to the Duchy of Lancaster through King Henry IV. The principal portion is oak timber: (here is the Swilcar Oak, a very ancient tree, 21 feet in girth); Egginton Heath, on which Sir J. Gill defeated the royalists in 1644. Near at hand is the Hall, the old seat of the Leighs, but now held by Sir H. Every, and quite modernised; and Tutbury Castle, on the river Dove, which overflows its banks, but verifies the old adage,

In the vicinity is Catton Hall, seat of Lady Wilmot Orton. Wichnor Manor, seat of J. Levett, Esq., was held by Sir R. de Somerville, under the Earl of Lancaster, with the understanding that he should be bound to present a flitch of bacon to every married couple who, after being married a year and a day, should make oath that they had never quarrelled or wished themselves unmarried. Very few claimants are recorded by the most searching historians.

This great seat of Sir John Barleycorn is on the Staffordshire side of the Trent. A very ancient bridge crosses the river to the Derbyshire side, straggling through 1,545 feet, on thirty-seven arches. There was a chapel at one end, built in 1322, by Edward II., to commemorate the defeat of Lancaster; and there is still an old mill, on the site of that mentioned in Domesday Book, founded in 1004. In that record the town is called Byrtune, and it had been an Abbey, some fragments of which may be traced on the river near the modern church. The Marquis of Anglesea is Lord of the Manor. Bass, Allsopp, Worthington (besides nine or ten others), are the chief ale kings here, and acres covered with barrels and casks may be seen. Vast quantities of pale ale are exported to tropical climates, and drunk by thirsty souls at home as a tonic. Contrary to common usage, the brewers, in preparing it, employ hard instead of soft water. Cotton and hardware are also manufactured here. Drakelow House, Sir T. Gresley, Bart., is near. To the north-west, five miles by rail, is the gate and other remains of Tutbury Castle, overhanging the Dove, in which the military chest of Lancaster was fished up in 1831, supposed to have been dropped by him when flying from his sovereign. He was caught at Pomfret and beheaded. Here John of Gaunt kept his court, appointing a king of the minstrels, whose successors retain office in the present day, and Mary Queen of Scots was a prisoner for some years. Isaac Hawkins Browne, the poet, was born here in 1760. The front of the old Norman church deserves notice.

We again retrace our route to Dudley, and, in resuming our journey north-west, pass the stations of TIPTON, PRINCE’S END, DAISY BANK, BILSTON, and PRIESTFIELD (in a distance of five miles only), arriving at

In the church at this place is a monument erected to the memory of W. Wakeley, who lived to the advanced age of 124.

Coalbrookdale is situate in the north-west angle of the parish of Madeley, about 14 miles from Shrewsbury, 5 from Wellington, and 6 from Shiffnal. It is easily accessible from the railway stations at these towns, but the Wellington and Severn Junction Railway, which will probably be extended into the valley, now terminates at Lightmoor, about a mile distant.

The Dale itself is a narrow wooded glen, opening at its widest and deepest part from the gorge through which the Severn flows in a south-easterly direction, and running for about 2½ miles into the table land out of which the Wrekin rises. Few places possess greater natural attractions or are situate among more romantic scenery, of which, from various points on the hill sides, fine and extensive views, “ever charming, ever new” are obtained of the fertile vale of the Severn, of Benthall and Wenlock Edge, of the Wrekin, Clee, Stretton and Breidden hills, of the distant Malvern hills, or the more distant Welsh mountains. The admirers of beautiful scenery, therefore, will derive great enjoyment from a visit to it; whilst the archæologist will be interested in the almost perfect ruins of Buildwas abbey, or in the picturesque though less extensive remains of the once stately priory of Wenlock; the geologist, in the field for research which the developments of the silurian and carboniferous systems here afford; or the visitor, in the well known iron works in the Dale and its neighbourhood. It is fortunate for the beauty of the place that it is situate on the edge only of the coal field which bears its name, and that the workings on the outcrop of the seams which appear in the Dale have long since been superseded by pits to the deeper measures. The coal field is one of the smallest in England, having an area of about 32 square miles, but is very productive, from the number of seams of coal and ironstone found in it. About 325,000 tons of ironstone, and 750,000 tons of coal are now annually raised from it. Its fossils are numerous, and include remains of marine, lacustrine, and land plants and creatures. It is remarkable from the greater part of it lying upon the upper members of the silurian system, which is largely developed in Benthall and Wenlock Edge, and extends over the adjacent parts of Shropshire and Herefordshire, and into central Wales; and in which the distinctive fossils are very abundant.

The position of the Dale, with its stream of water, commended it in early times to the monks of Wenlock for a preserve of fish and game; but this use of it gave way, as its advantages were known, for an industry of a more important kind, and iron works have existed here from time immemorial. Records exist of a “Smethe,” or “Smeth-house,’ in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and occasionally notices of them occur through the times of Charles I., Cromwell, and Charles II., down to 1711, when the family of Darby, which acquired, and through successive members has transmitted the proprietorship of the works, settled here.

With the growth of the iron trade the works have been much extended, but their relative importance has altered since the larger coalfields have been opened. Several important processes in the manufacture, or valuable applications of iron have originated here. About 1718, the use of mineral fuel in the blast furnace superseded the use of charcoal. About 1768, iron rails were laid down on the tramways, and soon afterwards a method of puddling was adopted and patented. In 1779 the first iron bridge was made and erected. This still stands in substantial repair, at a point where it crosses the Severn with a single arch, having a span of 100 feet 6 inches.

Many of the castings for the early engines of Boulton and Watt were made here, and about 1788, inclines for the varying levels of canals were first arranged here by Telford, at the suggestion of William Reynolds.

Since the introduction of the method of rolling bars of iron, the forges, and subsequently the furnaces, the lights and smoke from which formerly produced in the valley those appearances which suggested to strangers ideas of unearthly regions, have been removed to Horsehay, and other positions in the coalfield.

At the Coalbrookdale Co’s works at Horsehay about 17,000 tons of bar iron, of various qualities and descriptions, are annually made; but the large foundries still carry on in the Dale their busy and extensive manufacture. Perhaps at no other place is there made so great a variety, not only of articles but of patterns of the same article. Every casting for agricultural, mechanical, architectural, sanitary, or domestic purposes can be produced here. Not only are articles of its manufacture sent to all parts of the United Kingdom, but they find their way to America, and to countries as distant as Chili and China. Besides the bridge at Ironbridge, the bridges over the Severn at Buildwas, over the Parrat at Bridgewater, over the Cut at Bristol, over the Trent near Rugeley, and over the Severn at Preston, Boats were cast here, with many of less note. In castings of a finer description, and of superior artistic design and excellence, such as stoves, fenders, gates, and palisading, the foundries maintain a high reputation, its productions having gained a Council Medal at the Exhibition of 1851, and two Silver Medals at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. Many articles are now bronzed by a patent electro-type process, which deposits upon them a coating of brass. This method received the award of a medal at Paris. A method of protecting iron from atmospheric influences will probably be soon rendered available.

The population of the Dale is about 2,000. It is collected into an ecclesiastical district, for which a beautiful church has been lately erected. A commodious building having a large lecture room, a well supplied reading room, a library of 3,000 vols., and a room for the local school of art has been recently completed for the use of the Literary and Scientific Institution.

There are also a chapel for Wesleyans, and a meeting house for members of the Society of Friends.

FAIRS. —For the sale of horses, cattle, and sheep, every second Tuesday; for butter and cheese, monthly, on the Wednesday after the first cattle fair.

This fine old capital of Shropshire, and parliamentary town, is 42 miles beyond Birmingham, 161¾ miles from London by the North Western (or 171 via Birmingham), and 171 by the Great Western. The new line between Gloucester and Hereford affords another route by way of Leominster, Ludlow, &c., and is 195¼ miles. The station is a splendid Tudor building, which, together with the site, cost £100,000. Two members. Population, 22,163. No particular manufacture, but celebrated for its cakes and brawn. It is beautifully placed on a peninsula of the Severn; one main street entering it from Abbey Foregate, by English Bridge and Wyle Cop, and leaving it on the opposite side by Mardol and Welsh Bridge over to Frankwell, whilst another from Drayton comes in at the neck of the isthmus from Castle Fore-gate. On this favourite site the Britons began a town which the Mercian Saxons, after driving them out, called Scrobbesbyrig, signifying a wooded hill. From this its modern name and that of the county are derived. Henceforth it became an important frontier position; and here Roger de Montgomery, one of the Conqueror’s firmest adherents, built his Norman castle, planting it at the neck of the isthmus, in the most commanding spot that could be selected. The great keep and walls still remain, partly restored. Close to it is the County Gaol, built by Telford in 1793, on the plan of Howard, whose bust by Bacon is placed over the gateway.

Shrewsbury, which the Welsh style Amwythig, or delight, is a good specimen of an old town, with its narrow irregular streets and ancient buildings,—all, however, somewhat highly picturesque to the eye. Many of the houses are timbered. The Market House, in High-street, is an Elizabethan edifice, dating from 1595, beneath which is the Corn Market, and a statue of Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV. who was ably supported by this town in his contest with the Yorkists, and two of his sons were born at the Black Priory, and his portrait (not painted till 1695) is in the Drapers’ Hall, another ancient building. There was a still older structure here, the Booth Hall of Edward II.’s time, but this has been replaced by the handsome County and Town Hall built by Smirke, containing several portraits of kings, and the famous Admiral Benbow, who was a native of this place. The Council House, with its gate and old hall, 50 ft. long, still remains; adjacent to it is St. Nicholas Chapel, now a stable. The theatre, 100 ft. long, formerly the site of the Charlton’s seat. Next to the old Post Office Inn is the Clothworkers’ Hall, deserving notice. The Grammar School, founded (1550) by Edward VI. and possessing an income of about £3,500, takes a very high rank as a place of instruction, and is now under the charge of Dr. Kennedy, one of the first scholars in England. There is a chapel and a museum, in which are several Roman antiquities from Wroxeter. Bishop Butler, author of the well known Geography, was formerly head master; and it boasts of Sir P. Sidney, Wycherley, the poet, Waring, the mathematician, and others, as pupils. G. Bagley, the linguist, was for sometime master of Allatt’s school; he published a curious and important work, the “Grammar of Eleven Languages,” all of which he had acquired by his own exertions.

Of nine churches the oldest is Holy Cross, a Norman structure, near English Bridge. It was the church of an abbey founded by Roger Montgomery, portions of the monastic buiidings being incorporated into modern houses. There is one relic, a beautiful stone pulpit, in the decorated Gothic style, covered with ivy. Further on the London-road, past Lord Hill’s Column (136 ft. high), is the little old church of St. Giles, lately restored. White Hall is north of the road, an Elizabethan house, built by Prince, a lawyer. Another ancient church, St. Mary’s in Castle-street, cross-shaped, with a spire 220 feet high. Many years ago a hare-brained fellow undertook to slide down a rope laid from the top of this spire to the other side of the river, but he was killed in the attempt. St. Alkmond’s, near this, has a spire 184 ft. high; the church is modern. St. Chad’s, on Claremont Hill, is also modern, having a round Grecian body, set off with Rubens’ “Descent from the Cross “in the great window. From it runs the sheltered avenue of the Quarry Promenade, down to the river, planted with limes in 1719. This is a very agreeable spot. On the opposite side of the Severn, at Kingsland, is the House of Industry. From hence the well known author of Sandford and Merton chose a foundling, and educated her with the intention of making her his wife, but the scheme did not succeed. Miss Edgeworth’s “Belinda” is in part founded on this circumstance. At Kingsland is celebrated the show on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday, when the different trades, with music and banners, assemble here—a remnant of the Romish festival of Corpus Christi.

The Severn winds about in a remarkable manner both above and below Shrewsbury, but its banks are most uninteresting. A little above the town is Berwick Hall, the seat of the Hon. H. W. Powys. Near Bicton is the famous Shelton Oak, 44 feet in girth, which they say Owen Glendower ascended to watch the issue of the battle of 1403. This battle, in which Henry IV. defeated the combination of great men under Hotspur, was fought in 1403, at Battefield, three miles north of the town, where a half-ruined church marks the site of the victory, Which of the town clocks measured that long hour’s fight between the defunct Harry Percy and Falstaff it is impossible to say, as we have it solely on that fat rogue’s authority.

“Fal. There is Percy: if your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I live to be either earl or duke, I assure you.

“Fal. Didst thou ? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying ! I grant you I was down, and out of breath, and so was he; but we rose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, so; if not, let them that should reward valour bear the sin upon their own heads.”

Sundorne Castle is the seat of D. Corbet Esq., not far from the remains of Haughmond Priory, a mixture of the Norman and pointed styles. Further north are Hardwicke Grange and Hawkstone, both the seats of Viscount Hill, nephew of the first peer, the Hero of Almarez, &c. Hawkstone Park contains several curiosities, grottoes, &c., and points of view,—one of the best being Sir Rowland Hill’s Column, 112 feet high. Longnor belongs to Lieut.-Col. Corbet, and was the birth-place of Dr. Lee, the self-taught Oriental scholar. Condover, the seat of E. W. S. Owen, Esq., an ancient Elizabethan house, with many pictures, &c. Cound, Rev. Henry Thursby Pelham. Pitchford has an old church, and is the seat of John Cotes, Esq. Acton Burnell, Sir C. F. Smythe, Bart.; here are remains of an old castle and grange, in which Edward I. held a parliament or great council in 1282. Attingham belongs to Lord Berwick, a charming spot on the Severn, where the Tern joins it. Lower down are the ruins of Buildwas Abbey, and the busy mineral district round Coalbrookdale, Wenlock, &c. In the distance is the noble peak of the Wrekin, 1,320 feet high above the plain, which commands an immense prospect.

This line forms a direct continuation of the railway from Birmingham to Shrewsbury. On arriving at HANWOOD, a distance of five miles, a short branch turns off, running via PLEALEY ROAD and PONTESBURY to the small chapelry of MINSTERLEY, with its 890 inhabitants. It then continues its course through the stations of YOCKLETON, WESTBURY, MIDDLETON, and BUTTINGTON to

To the tourist, this line of railway holds out peculiar attractions. The Vale of Gresford, the grounds of Wynnstay, the valley of the Dee, and the vale of Llangollen, offer some of the most beautiful views, unsurpassed for grandeur and picturesque effect. Here Cambria discloses herself between the mountains of Trevor and Berwyn, and by her own sacred Dee, the happy valley, which leads to scenes of the richest beauty, where amidst her mountains and lakes she revels in all her native splendour of rocks, woods, and streams. Throughout the rest of the line, as it crosses the valley of the Ceiriog, and passes along the borders of Wales to St. Oswald’s town of Shrewsbury, the scenery is most lovely and park-like; and the adjoining Welsh mountains form a noble and varied background to many a delightful view. It is both a business and pleasure line. It curves so as to either nearly touch or pass through the borders of Wales; it intersects a very important iron and coal district in Denbighshire, and passes either close to, or as near as possible the chief towns on its route—Oswestry, Llangollen, and Wrexham.

Proceeding on our way, with the “fair Sabrina” on our left hand, we pass Berwick Park, the seat of Lord Berwick, and arrive at

LEATON. —In the immediate vicinity is the little village Fettes or Fitz, a charming place situated on a gentle but commanding eminence, embracing a diversity of scenery, presenting the finest view the county can boast of.

Shortly after leaving this station we pass the village of Walford, and the seat of the late R. A. Slaney, Esq. M. P. for Shrewsbury.

The village of Baschurch is of great antiquity, and its salubrity and general cleanliness render it a desirable place of residence. It has an old British fortress, with a fine prospect from Ness Cliff.

One mile distant to the left of the line is Boreaton Park, and in the same direction the pretty little village of Ruyton, formerly one of the “Eleven Towns,” with some remains of an old castle. In the same direction (4 miles) is the site of the old castle of the l’Estranges at Knockin.

We now traverse a swampy, flat, and uninteresting part of the country, viz., Bagley Moors, and Whyke Moss, and then crosses the river Perry.

On the left are seen a long range of high mountains called the Welsh or Breedden hills, about five miles distant; on the summit of one of them is a pillar erected in honour of Rodney’s victory over the French; and Tedsmore Hall, the fine seat of T. Owen, Esq.

This station is situated in the parish of West Felton, the church of which is a fine old edifice. Pradoe (1 mile), Hon. T. Kenyon.

Thence passing the elegant mansion in a picturesque park of Woodhouse, W. M. Owen, Esq., and soon after Aston Park, we arrive at

This station is looked upon as the prettiest on this line. The village of Whittington is in a picturesque situation, and so situated that the roads from Shrewsbury to Llangollen, and from Ellesmere to Oswestry pass through it. About half a mile from the station are the ruins of Whittington Castle, which are strikingly picturesque and beautiful; and having been the birth-place and residence of Fulk Fitz-Gwarin, one of the barons who extorted from King John the Magna Charta, as well as the scene of his surprising adventures, and belonging to the Peverells, it is regarded with much interest by all visitors.

In the vicinity are (1 mile) Halston, the ancient house of the Myttons, in which the famous General of that name was born, and (5 miles) Ellesmere Old Castle, from the site of which nine counties may be seen. The church has a pinnacled tower, beautiful window, and tombs of the Kynastons. Ellesmere town is clean and neat, and its appearance is much enlivened by a beautiful lake close to which it stands.

At this place we cross Watt’s Dyke one of the huge ramparts erected or raised by the Mercian Saxons as a defence against the Britons.

The line to Oswestry presents few objects worthy of notice or description. Park Hall, the property of R. H. Kinchant, Esq., is a singular and interesting mansion, built in the Tudor style. Porkington, the seat of W. Ormsby Gore, Esq., is beautifully situated, and commands some of the finest and most extensive views in the country. Farther on to the right is “Old Oswestry,” an ancient military post, situated on an eminence, a very picturesque looking object from the railway.

FAIRS. —Third Wednesday in January, March 15th. May 12th, Wednesday before June 24th, August 15th, Friday before September 29th, December 10th.

This is a very ancient town, famous as being th. site of the conflict between Penda and Oswald in 642, when the latter lost his life. It took its name from this circumstance. Its early importance may be gathered from a description given of it by a Welsh poet of the 15th century, who describes it as “the London of Powis”—and Churchyard apostrophizes it as “a prettie towne, full fine.” There are but few fragments of the castle left, but these are interesting from the fact that here the Duke of Hereford (Henry IV.) and the Duke of Norfolk met to settle the dispute between them. The church is a large and handsome building. It is of great antiquity.

Oswestry stands upon higher ground than any other town in Shropshire. The country for several miles round is delightfully varied with hills, vales, wood, and water, and abounds in rich scenery.

Any tourist making one of the inns in this town his head quarters for several days in fine weather, would find much worth his notice in the neighbourhood.

Although a continuous line from Oswestry, the title of the company here takes that of the

Running through the stations of LLYNCLYS, PANT, LLANYMYNECH (the junction of a short line, via LLANSAINTFFRAID to LLANFYLLIN, a place celebrated for its ponies), FOUR CROSSES, ARDDLEEN, POOL QUAY, and BUTTINGTON, to WELSHPOOL ; but, should time permit, we recommend the tourist to leave the road at Oswestry, and pass by the vale of Tanat for its beautiful scenery, Llangynog, and old cell of St. Melangel, near it, to Llanfyllin, thence by Guilsfield Church (at Garvn, close by a Roman camp and road) to

A place of considerable trade, in flannels, and in malt. Population, 7,304. The Severn here becomes navigable. About 1 mile from the town is Powis Castle, the ancient seat of the Clive family, occupying a commanding situation; it overlooks a vast tract of country, and is a large and magnificent seat.

Eight miles north-west is Llanfawr. On the hill above is the site of the old Roman station Castell Caer Einion. The River Vyruwy, here is a good angling stream, indeed the whole of the streams, and the Linns (of which there are several) abound with fish, and on every hill there are the remains of camps or entrenchments.

At this place are the remains of two castles, and an immense camp with four ditches to be seen. The church is cruciform, and contains some interesting monuments.

Making for the banks of the Severn, we come to the pretty little village of ABERMULE, (the junction of a short line to KERRY ) situated at the junction of the rivers Mule and Severn, a little to the left of which is Castell Dolforgan, an old ruin on a hill—but surrounded by beautiful scenery. About four miles beyond is the busy little town of

There is an old church here, some of the ornaments of which were spoil from the Abbey Cwmhir, in Radnorshire. A spacious flannel hall has been erected.

A short distance beyond Newtown is a romantic glen and waterfall; we then come to Llan-yr-Afange (the Beaver’s pool) and four remarkable camps.

Passing the station of SCAFELL, we next come to that of MOAT LANE, the junction of the line called the

Leaving the station westward we soon come to the small hamlet of CAERSWS, which has the remains of two Roman camps. The river Carno falls into the Severn at this point. We then leave the latter, and taking a direction parallel with the former, come to the town of

CARNO, remarkable for the bloody contentions which, in the earlier history of the principality, from time to time took place amongst its princes.

LLANBYNMAIR AND CEMMES ROAD are respectively passed and our arrival announced at

Supposed to be the Roman Maglona. Here Owen Glyndwr assembled his parliament on being chosen Prince of Wales. The neighbourhood is full of objects of antiquity. At a distance of eleven miles to the west we come to the town of

TOWYN, a thoroughly Welsh town, and a most rural watering place. St. Cadfan’s Church will delight an antiquarian. Hence follow the mountain road, by the majestic Cader Idris, whose Cyclopean precipices are upheaved in our very path, to

DOLGELLEY. —Here it will be found necessary to have a guide for its exploration, unless you have an ordnance map. Nearly 3,000 feet high, its summit commands a most extensive panoramic view, with Snowdon on one side, Wrekin on another, Plinlimmon to the South, and the Brecknockshire Beacons beyond. Dolgelley itself is a lovely place, and may be made the centre of many an interesting excursion.

The beautiful ruins of Cymner Abbey; Nannau Park, the scene of the deadly feud between Howel Sele and Glyndwr; the Waterfalls; the Vale of Mawddach; the Precipice walk around Moel-Cynwch; the Torrent Walk, the property of the Caerynwych family, and the Abergwynant Walks, the property of Sir Henry Bunbury; and the watering place of

BARMOUTH may be visited from this. Ten miles up the coast from Barmonth is Harlech, with its historical old ruined castle, from which Craig Ddrwg and the Rhinog Faur (upwards of 2,000 feet high) may be climbed, with every yard full of Druidical and British remains.

ABERYSTWITH, on the coast of Cardiganshire, situated on a bold eminence, overhanging the sea, at the junction of the Ystwith and the Rhydol. The castle—its chief lion—was built by Gilbert de Strongbow, in the reign of Henry I., and now a mere ruin, is throned upon a projection of slate rock, protecting the town on the sea side, while on the other it commands the entire estuary of the two rivers, meeting at their point of confluence. Northward of the castle is a level beach, some hundred yards in length, to which succeeds a long range of slate rocks, worn into caverns and recesses by the dashing of the waves. Among the ruins is the favourite promenade, which, from its elevation, commands a magnificent view of the whole line of coast that forms Cardigan Bay. Nearly in the middle of this bay Aberystwith is seated, whence may be seen to the north a long irregular line, formed at first by the projecting coast of Merioneth, and then continued out to sea by the long mountainous promontory of Carnarvon, terminated by the Isle of Bardsey. There is no station southward of Carnarvonshire from which the Welsh Alps may be so advantageously seen as from Aberystwith Castle, or some of the surrounding cliffs. The lofty hills which bound the estuary of the Dovey, and raise their broad backs far above the Cardigan rocks, are surmounted by Cader Idris and its subject cliffs. These are overtopped by the giant mountains of Carnarvonshire, among which, in clear weather, the sharp peak of Snowdon itself may be discerned pre-eminent above the neighbouring crags. This wide expanse of water, diversified by numerous steamers and vessels in every direction—some steering out for different ports in the bay, some further out at sea, and slowly shaping their course for Liverpool, Bristol, or Irish havens, while others, almost stationary, are busily employed in fishing—affords a varied and pleasant panorama of marine scenery. Pont ar Fynach, or the Devil’s Bridge, is not more than twelve miles distant. A small portion of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway beyond Machynlleth is now open. It extends through GLYN- DOVEY and YNYS- LAS to BORTH, on the coast of Cardigan about 8 miles short of Aberystwith.

Returning again to the station at Moat Lane, we pursue our course via LLANDINAM and DOLWEN to

Situated at the confluence of the rivers Clywedog and Severn, returns one member to parliament, and has a population of 3,127, principally engaged in the manufacture of woollen and coarse flannels The church contains some interesting remains.

From this we may visit the source of the Rheidol, and Blaen Hafran, the source of the Severn on the edge of Plinlimmon. The road hence to Machynlleth is full of grand scenery (a distance of 18 miles), and we may add, the wildest road in the kingdom.

On the completion of the lines of railway from Llanidloes to Llandovery and the south, the whole of central Wales, abounding in rugged defiles, in secluded glens, darksome rivers (but full of fish), the sources of the Severn and the Wye, and many a relic of our stalwart ancestors, will be opened up to the tourist.

Proceeding onwards from Gobowen, with St. Martin’s one mile on the right, and Selattyn one mile to the left, we soon come to the Chirk Viaduct, which carries us across the lovely vale of Ceiriog, and into the Welsh county of Denbigh, and stop at

Pleasantly situated on the brow of a hill, surrounded by fertile meadows and wooded banks. The neighbourhood affords various rural entertainments for tourists and visitors. Chirk Viaduct is considered a beautiful engineering gem, and viewed from a hill on the south-west side of the valley, near Pont Feun, is seen to great advantage, and discloses through its arches the lovely vale of Ceiriog.

Parallel with the Chirk viaduct is the aqueduct, built by Telford, which conveys the Ellesmere canal over the vale of Ceiriog.

In 1164, here took place the most sanguinary battle ever fought between the English and Welsh. Many of the English slain were buried in Offa’s dyke near, which still goes by the name of the Pass of Graves.

Overlooking the village is the remarkably interesting and ancient mansion called Chirk Castle, the seat of R. Myddelton Biddulph, Esq. This noble looking edifice has been preserved from ruin, and may be regarded as a perfect model of the “time-honoured castles of the ancient lords of the soil.” From its summit the prospect is not only extensive, but grand, overlooking seventeen counties.

A short distance further on to the left is Brynkinailt, the residence of Lord Dungannon, of the Trevor family. The Iron Duke’s mother belonged to this family, and here the illustrious warrior passed a great portion of his boyhood; and beyond, in the same direction is the Quinta, the seat of Thos. Barnes, Esq.

The Great Dee Viaduct. — Crossing the Dee at one of the loveliest spots in the principality of Wales, where nature has grouped the various elements of beauty in the richest profusion, and art has recorded its triumphs by first-class works, the view from the top of the viaduct, for extent and beauty, is unequalled. Beneath winds the Dee, from which rise the Eglwyseg Rocks with serrated outline on the left bank, while the mountains forming the continuation of the Berwyn range abut on the right bank; their lower slopes are richly cultivated, and on successive terraces are dotted the white cottages of the Welsh peasantry, whilst masses of dark wood crown the projecting heights. The aqueduct of Pont-y-Cysylltan, is seen as you cross about a mile distant from the viaduct, and forms a striking feature in the prospect. This stupendous viaduct consists of 19 semi-circular arches of 60 feet span; and the height from the bed of the river to the top of the parapet at the centre pier is 148 feet. Its length is 1,532 feet. The viaduct is founded on the solid rock, and is built of stone, with the exception of the interior arching, which is of hard fire bricks. The grain of the stone is beautiful, and the work is so built as to convey to the mind the idea of great strength and solidity. This work of art occupied Telford ten years in its construction.

Castle Dinas Bran, Barber’s Hill, and the Eglwyseg Rocks, form a background unrivalled for picturesque effect, and enclose the vale in an amphitheatre of loveliness. Railways, canals, lime quarries, and the distant iron works, mark the progress of commercial enterprise.

Proceeding onwards, with the Chester and Ellesmere canal running for some distance parallel with us, we pass CEFN, with Wynnstay and its pretty park on our right, and the works of the British Iron Company on our left, and arrive at the station of

The village of Ruabon is most pleasantly situated, and there are mansions, iron and coal works in the neighbourhood. Ruabon Church is well worthy of a visit. It contains several fine monuments, particularly one to the memory of Sir Watkin Wm. Wynne, Bart., which is much admired.

Although a very small portion of this line is now open, it leads into the very heart of the picturesque and beautiful. It will traverse the whole length of the Vale of Llangollen and the valley of the Dee up to Corwen, and continue its course from thence to Ruthin and Rhyl, through the Vale of Clwyd, northward, and to Bala, Dolgelly, and Barmouth, westward. From Ruabon the line runs via the stations of

The Vale of Llangollen is said to equal any of the beauties of the Rhine, and it no doubt surpasses them in works of art, the aqueduct and viaduct being splendid ornaments to this lovely work of nature.

Llangollen lies in the hollow of the Dee, called in Welsh, Glyndurdwy, i.e., valley of the Dyfyrdwy; and being the first glimpse of peculiar mountain scenery which the visitor comes upon, it is indebted to this as much as to its own character for the celebrity it enjoys. The population of the parish is 5,799, including some engaged in the flannel and woollen manufacture. Plâsnewydd, or New Hall, where the Maid of Llangollen, Lady E. Butler, and her friend (so graphically delineated by the late Charles Matthews), Miss Ponsonby, lived in happy retirement, remains in the same state as when occupied by them. The two former residents are buried in the old Gothic church, which is dedicated to Saint Collen, whose full name is Collen ap Gwynnawg ap Clyddwg ap Cowrda ap Caradoc Freichfas ap Lleyr Merion ap Einion Yrth ap Cunedda Wledig. What an affliction to have to invoke the saint by his full name, or to be christened after him! A Gothic Bridge in four arches is as old as the 14th century. The Vale is best seen in the evening light; but the “Vale of the Cross at its upper end—which is generally confounded with it—and that of Llandysilio, on the Holyhead road, opposite the former, are both superior to Llangollen.”—(Cliffe’s North Wales ). It lies between hills in which limestone and coal, and in other parts excellent slate, are quarried. What the latter article will bear may be seen from the slabs laid down opposite St. Mildred’s, in the Poultry, London; the grain is so firm, that though millions of feet have passed over that pavement, it is as smooth and sound as ever.

Opposite the bridge the hills rise upwards of 900 feet high, and are surmounted by the remains of an old British fortress, which commanded the pass, called Castle Dinas Bran (dinas means a fort). A winding path leads to it from the Tower farm. Going down the Dee, you come to Plâs-y-Pentre, a seat between the river and the canal, below which is the Pont-y-Cysylltan, or aqueduct which carries the Ellesmere canal over the valley.

A little above Llangollen is Valle Crucis, or the Valley of the Cross, which may be ascended to view the striking remains of an abbey, founded in the 13th century, beyond which is the more ancient Cross called Eliseg, which gives name to the pass. The road leads hence over Craig Eglwyseg, and other peaks 1,500 to 1,800 feet high, to the head of the Vale of Clwydd, and to Ruthin and Denbigh Castles.

Down the Dee, below the Cysylltan aqueduct is Wynnstay, the hospitable and extensive mansion of Sir W. W. Wynne, Bart., in a beautiful park of 9 miles circuit. Watt’s dyke intersects the grounds, in which are an obelisk 101 feet high, a cenotaph to the memory of those soldiers who fell in the Irish rebellion of ‘98, and a tower to commemorate the victory of Waterloo. Since writing the above, the mansion has been totally destroyed, with its very valuable contents, by fire.

Still higher up the Dee are, Llantysilio Hall, seat of A. Reid, Esq., near the canal reservoir; and (at the 7th mile stone) Glyndwr’s Mount, marking the site of Sycharth, or Sychuant, the seat of the famous Owen Glyndwr, or Glendower, whose county this was. A mile or two further is Corwen Church, a half Norman building. A cross in the church yard is called Owen Glyndwr’s sword; a dagger which belonged to that chief is at Col. Vaughan’s seat, Rhug. The great Holy-head road here strikes off through the mountains to Capel Curig (26 miles), Snowdon, and Bangor; while another follows the Dee to Bala Lake (13 miles), which has its source in the Arran Mowddwy mountains. These range 2,950 feet high at the most, and fall as a continuation of the Berwyn mountains, which appear nearer Llangollen, and at Moel Ferna (Moel means bald ), within a few miles of it, are 2,100 feet high, and at Cader Berwyn, about 2,560 feet high. Under this last point (12 miles south-west) is the famous waterfall of Pistyll Rhaiadyr. Here in a dark well-wooded hollow one of the head springs of the Tanat runs down 140 feet at once, thence through a rock, and down another fall of 70 feet. There are several paths to it over the hills. It gives name to Llanrhaiadyr church, in the valley below.

The railway from Ruabon runs parallel with Watt’s and Offa’s Dykes for a long distance. The mountainous district to the left is a valuable mining country, extremely prolific in coal and iron, and shortly before reaching Wrexham the traveller will perceive Erddig Hall, the seat of Simon York, Esq., delightfully situated on a hill, with a beautiful little river flowing at its foot. The view of this mansion from the railway is exceedingly picturesque.

POST HORSES, FLYS, &c., at the station and hotels. Tarifl—1s. 6d. per mile, post boy 3d. per mile.

WREXHAM is a populous town in the county of Denbigh. Population 7,562, who return one member. It stands in a fertile plain adjoining the Royal Vale of Cheshire. It is well built, the church is a very handsome edifice, built in the 15th century, and is equal in point of beauty to many of our Cathedrals. It is 178 feet long, 72 feet wide, and has a tower 185 feet in height, which portion is considered a masterpiece of architectural display; it also contains a chaste monument by Roubiliac to Mary Middleton, with some fine monuments of the neighbouring gentry. In addition to this edifice there are several other places of worship. The town being situated in the centre of an extensive mining and manufacturing district is considered the metropolis of North Wales. The town-hall is a large edifice at the top of High Street.

In the vicinity is Gardden Lodge, the seat of G. Walmsley, Esq., on a hill to the right, built on the site of an old fortress and encampment, in the vicinity of which a battle was fought between the English and the Welsh in 1161-2.

At Holt (6 miles) there are an interesting stone bridge, of ten arches, over the Dee, erected in the 14th century; some remains of an extensive castle and Roman earthworks. At Bangor Iscoed are the vestiges of a British college, which was founded by King Lucius in 180, and contained 2,400 monks, 1,200 of whom were slain, unarmed, on a battle field, near Chester, by Ethelfrith.

The train now traverses for a considerable distance what is called “free” or neutral ground, where at one time trade and commerce could only be transacted between the ancient Britons, the Danes, and afterwards the Saxons.

This mineral branch diverges to the right, and passes across the coal field to the lime rocks of Minera. It is 6¼ miles in length. There are several smaller branches made for the accommodation of the works at Frood, Brynmally, Westminster, South Sea, Brymbo, and Vron, to the extent of about six miles in addition.

At a place called Wheatsheaf the locomotive portion of the branch terminates, and the lower self-acting inclined plane commences, by which the loaded wagons descend, and draw up the empty ones to Summerhill level.

At Summerhill the branch pierces through the crest of a hill by a tunnel, and enters the Moss Valley, which is here a narrow ravine, beautifully wooded, having its sides studded with cottages and gardens, which are chiefly small freeholds, the property of the workmen.

From Moss Valley the main branch rises by a steep inclined plane to Peutre, at an inclination of 1 in 4 At the top it pierces through the summit of the Peutre by a tunnel, on emerging from which is Brymbo Valley and iron works From the tunnel the railway winds its course for about four miles to Minera, celebrated for its lead mines and limestone rocks. As the railway winds along the slope of the hills a most magnificent panoramic view is obtained, extending from the Mersey, dotted with white sails, across the Vale Royal, over Cheshire and Shropshire to the Severn, flanked on the left by the Hope Mountains, and on the right by the Berwyn range, to which succeed the Brydden, the Wrekin, Caer Caradoc, and the distant Cheshire hills; and while the eye is charmed with the beauty of the landscape, the mineral treasures and the varied mechanical contrivances by which their value is brought out, commands the attention and admiration of the geologist and scientific visitor.

Passing a fine ancient mansion, called Geversyllt Hall, the property of Sir Watkin W. Wynne, Bart., and then, by some deep cuttings and long embankments, we reach

The station is built in the English villa style, and its picturesque simplicity harmonises exceedingly well with the beautiful and romantic scenery around. The church is seated on the brow of a lofty eminence, commanding a very fine view of the Vale Royal of Cheshire; it is seen at a great distance off, and is famed as one of the seven wonders of Wales, for its beautiful Gothic architecture. Gresford Lodge, R. Ormsby Gore, Esq. Passing along the beautiful and highly picturesque Vale of Gresford, Mount Alyn, the residence of the late Col. M. Goodwin, on the left, and through a cutting, interspersed with streaks of coal, we cross the river Alyn, to the right of which is seen Trevalyn Hall, the seat of Sir John Trevor. A short distance from the line is a high hiL, called the Rofts, formerly a British encampment, and arrive at

The beautiful ravine, Nant-v-fridd, and the ruins of Caergwrle Castle, originally a British post, which defended the neighbourhood, may be visited from this.

Soon after passing this the line proceeds over a flat, fertile country called the Lache Hayes, to the left of which, as far as the eye can see, is the long range of Clwydian Hills, the centre one being distinguished by the name of Moel Fammau, or the mother of hills. There is a monument on the sammit of this mountain, erected to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of George III. The view from this elevation is very extensive. The hills nearest the line are those of Hope Mountains, containing minerals of every description in profusion. The iron and coal works are seen burning at night for a considerable distance. We likewise perceive the village of Doddleston on the left. The church contains a monument to the memory of Chancellor Egerton, Lord Ellesmere. The next station is

This place is becoming of considerable importance in connection with the coasting trade, from its being the nearest shipping port to the whole of North Wales, Shropshire, and the mining districts in Staffordshire. To the right is the beautiful little village of Eccleston, a favourite resort of pleasure parties from Chester.

Leaving Saltney, we soon after cross the river Dee by the largest cast-iron girder bridge in the kingdom, and a viaduct of 47 arches; then, passing through the west angle of the city walls, over the Ellesmere and Chester Canal, and through the tunnel beneath Northgate, we arrive at the Station at

FAIRS. —Last Thursday in February, July 5th, and October 10th. RACES in May and October.

CHESTER is a genuine Roman city, built four-square, within walls, which remain to this day. It is also a cathedral town and borough, with 31,110 population, returning two members, a peer, the Prince of Wales, who bears the title of Earl of Chester, and the capital of Cheshire, on the river Dee, thirteen miles from Liverpool, where four lines meet. The joint station, which cost nearly a quarter of a million, is 1,010 feet long. Chester, so called by the Saxons because of the camp, or castram here, was named Deva by the Romans, who joined it by a road right across the country to Colchester, called the Via Deva. Two main streets were cut by them into the rock, terminating in the four city gates; above these on both sides are lines of shops and covered ways, called the Rows, to which you ascend by a few steps. Several old timber buildings with gable fronts are seen. St. John’s is the oldest of its eleven or twelve churches, having solid Norman pillars, &c. The Cathedral, built of the red sandstone so common here; the west front, not older than the 16th century, is the best part of it. A beautiful early English Chapter House is close by. The bishop’s throne was the shrine of St. Werburgh, founder of the abbey here. The present primate was translated from Chester. Falaner, a scholar, Dr. Cowper, Sir J. Vanburgh, the mathematician, Molyneux and Brerewood, Bradshaw, the poet, Higden, the author, Dean Whittingham, translator of the Geneva Bible, and Kynaston and Downham, divines, were natives. The Cheese Market is in the Old Linen Hall. The cheeses weigh from 60 to 160 lbs. and are highly coloured; to make them keep, the whey is entirely pressed out. The famous Cheshire pastures were at one time almost worn out, when they were renovated with bone dust, and made five times as valuable as before. The Shire Hall and Assize Court is an imposing Grecian pile, by Harrison, with a portico copied from the Acropolis at Athens. Here is the old Castle, built by the Conqueror’s nephew, Hugh Lupus; it includes an armoury, barracks, chapel, and Julius Cæsar’s tower. The ancient Walls, now hemmed in by houses, form a walk, 4 to 6 feet broad, and nearly 2 miles long round the town, and are curious from their antiquity. They were patched up or rebuilt by Alfred’s daughter In some parts they are only a few feet high; but where the cliff overhangs the river you look down 50 or 60 feet. The sharp edges of the Welsh hills are seen here and there; from the Phœnix Tower, Charles I. witnessed the defeat of his troops at Rowton Moor, in 1645. One old bridge of 7 arches dates back to the 11th century. The Grosvenor Bridge, designed by Harrison, and built by Trubshaw, is a fine arch of 200 feet span, with a rise of only 40 feet. The Roodee, or race course, is outside the walls, near the railway. In Crook Street chapel is Matthew Henry’s pulpit, where he used to preach; his monument is in Trinity church. Chester has a middling shipping trade, by means of a cut to the sea from Saltney. The Welsh border is within a walk of 2 miles.

Eaton Hall (3 miles), seat of the Marquis of Westminster, is visited from here, and stands in a large straggling park. Tickets may be had at the booksellers, or at the Royal Hotel. Parties of three—to the house, 5s.; to the garden, 3s.; the proceeds being handed over to the Chester hospitals. The Hall is a very picturesque modern Gothic pile, about 450 feet long, with several pinnacles and turrets, and rebuilt in 1803 on the site of the old seat. In the long gallery are family portraits, with West’s “Cromwell Dissolving the Long Parliament,” and various foreign masters. A pretty iron bridge, 150 feet span across the river.

Haddon (or Hawarden) Castle, seat of Sir S. Glynne, Bart., near an old keep, is in Denbighshire, 7 miles off.

Leaving Chester, the first stations we pass are MOLLINGTON, SUTTON, and HOOTON, from the latter of which Parkgate is accessible by omnibus; the next place arrived at is

BROMBOROUGH, near to which is Eastham Ferry, the landing place for the Mersey steamers. It is a charming spot, and a place of great resort in the summer by pic-nic parties from Liverpool. Bromborough Mill, situated in a delightful dell.

BEBBINGTON. —Here is an old spire church, and just beyond are Upper Bebbington and the Stamton Stone Quarries, in which ripple marks have been found.

ROCK LANE, the station for Rock Ferry, between which and Liverpool steamers are constantly plying.

This place contains a population of 51,649, chiefly engaged in shipbuilding; large docks of 150 acres, made by Rendel, and opened in August, 1847; 4 chapels, court house, St. Aidan’s college, founded in 1849; gas and water works, Abattoir pier Market place, 430 feet long; St. Mary’s church which overlooks the river was part of a restored abbey, ruins of a priory founded in 1150 by Hamon de Massey, 2 churches, fine park and great square. In the vicinity are Seacembe, Egremont, Leasowe Castle, and New Brighton, with the Blackrock Lighthouse and Bidstone Light.

The first station on our route is DUNHAM HILL, close to which are Wimbold’s, Trafford Hall, Mickle Trafford, and Bridge Trafford, near which is Helsby Hill Camp, the marshy shores of the Mersey, the old church and manor house of Ince, seat of I. Ince, Esq., and Stanlow Point, where there was a ferry, and the Abbots of St. Werburgh had a retreat.

This place is situated in a pretty spot under Overton Hill. It has a fine old Norman church (from which there is a good view), grammar school, graving dock, an old castle given by Edward I. to Llewellyn’s brother David, for the betrayal of which he was executed. It was burnt in 1642. It has a population of 2,837, employed in the salt works. Here died T. Hough, aged 141 years; and its inhabitants are celebrated for their longevity.

Next in succession is RUNCORN ROAD, three miles to the left of which is Runcorn, where markets are held on Fridays, near Weston Point, under the cliffs, and opposite the Mersey, called Runcorn Gap. It has a population of 10,434, employed in the salt and coal trade. Halton Castle commands fine views; it was built by Fitz Nigel, and a little beyond is Aston Hall, the seat of Sir A. Aston, for many years Ambassador at the Court of Spain. The canal suddenly falls here by ten locks.

The arrival of the train at Newton Bridge, the junction of the line with the London and North Western, is soon announced; and passing the stations of KENYON, BURY LANE, ASTLEY, PATRICROFT, ECCLES, and ORDSAL, we arrive at

Both the church, with a pointed cross, and hall, with old bay windows, the residence of James Barratt, Esq., are very ancient.

TIMPERLEY. —Three miles from this place is Wythenshawe Hall, seat of T. W. Tatton, Esq. It is also the point of connection with the

A walk of a mile from Timperley brings us to Altrincham, and a quarter of a mile further, to Bowdon, and here the traveller would do well to spend a few hours.

We now retrace our steps to TIMPERLEY on our way to Manchester, passing SALE and STRETFORD to

OLD TRAFFORD, in the vicinity of which is Trafford Park, seat of Sir Humphrey De Trafford, Bart., descended from one of the most ancient of all the old families in this county. The park is extensive, but rather bare; the hall of plain brick.

This line, which was commenced in December, 1860, runs through a very flat country, through one of the richest parts of Cheshire, and forms a valuable acquisition to the salt district, through which it passes. The branch from the South Junction line takes place at a distance of fifteen chains from the Altrincham station; and, sweeping the base of the Bowdon hill in a graceful curve, the first station is reached, at a distance of three-quarters of a mile,

PEEL CAUSEWAY, intended for the accommodation of the inhabitants of Bowdon. This station is close to the road called Peel Causeway, and is within an easy distance of Bowdon Old Church, now restored. The line then passes on through happy meadows and over the Bollin river, to

Which is distant from Peel Causeway a mile and three-quarters. The Bollin is crossed at a height of 30 feet by a fine and substantial brick arch, which has a span of 45 feet. The present bridge supplies the place of one which fell a short time since, and is now perfectly safe for the heaviest trains. The valley of the Bollin about this locality is particularly attractive—indeed nowhere are there more beautiful green slopes and sunlit glades than those extending from Ashley to Castle Mill. The ever-changing and picturesque views, and the winding paths in this secluded retreat, must make this district particularly attractive to the denizens of Manchester. Indeed, the soil is so sandy, and the air so wholesome all along the line, that we should not be surprised if, in a few years, the locality is studded with handsome residences. Though the water of the Bollin is somewhat muddy, the angler can find enough trout to reward a day of patient pleasure. To the right of Ashley Station may be seen, embowered in trees, the ancient Ashley Hall, formerly the seat of the Asshetons, and now the property of Lord Egerton of Tatton. Here, tradition says, the Cheshire squirearchy assembled at the commencement of the civil war, to consult whether they should espouse the cause of the Royalists or the Parliamentarians; and, after a long and somewhat angry discussion, a majority declared for the Royalists. A mile, however, to the left of Ashley station there formerly stood an old chapel, called Ringway Chapel, in which sundry Puritan divines thundered forth their anathemas against royal tyranny and the bishops; and it would appear that several of the Cheshire ‘squires of that day became thoroughly indoctrinated with their views, for among them a Mr. Dukenfield, who was made a colonel of the Parliamentary army, obtained two pieces of ordnance from Manchester, and by their aid reduced, in 1646, Wythenshawe Hall, the seat of the ancestors of Mr. T. W. Tatton, the present possessor. Colonel Dukenfield also took prisoner Sir George Booth, of Dunham, near Bowdon, at a place near Winnington in Cheshire.

Ashley Station will also form a convenient starting point for the visitor to the delightful Rostherne Mere, which is distant about a mile on the right. The mere is supposed by some to be a relic of a great lake which once extended from Alderley to High Legh. On the heights above the mere stands the interesting old church, which contains numerous family monuments. The romantic tradition is attached to the mere, that the lake being subter- raneously connected with the estuary of the Mersey, by that means every Easter Sunday at dawn a mermaid appeared on the mere, “uttering harmonious and dulcet breath,” and ringing a bell which is said to be one of the bells originally intended for the church tower, but which thrice broke its ropes and rolled into the water under some supernatural influence. From Ashley the line runs another mile and three-quarters to

Situated about a mile from the ancient and quaint village of that name, which still boasts the peculiarity, as we are informed, of having two lords of the manor and two manor houses. Here was formerly a priory, which had, however, only a brief existence. Near Mobberley is Dukinfield Hall, said to be formerly the seat of the Daniels, one of which family, a knight, met in mortal combat in the locality of Ashley, his brother-in-law, Captain Ratcliffe, whom he killed The field in which the fight took place still bears the name of the “Bloody Field.” From Mobberley to Knutsford, a distance of 2¾ miles, and, indeed, almost from Ashley to Knutsford, the fine park belonging to Lord Egerton is just visible on the right, whilst on the left are the Cheshire Water Works, which supply the town of Knutsford with pure water.

This station is situated within a stone’s throw of the County Gaol, and passes over the Chelford Road by a fine archway. Population, 3,575. The train then proceeds via PLUMBLEY and LOSTOCK, the stations at which are neat and substantial, and in about five minutes arriving at

The station here is only a temporary one, and will probably remain so until the completion of the West Cheshire line, which is to run from Northwich to Helsby, a small station of the Birkenhead Railway.

Northwich is the principal seat of the salt trade. The salt is worked either in the mines, 200 or 300 feet deep, under the gypsum, or produced from the brine springs. One of the largest, the Marston or Dale’s Mine, should be visited by the curious traveller, descended in three or four minutes by a shaft 250 feet deep, to the excavated chambers below, spread over 35 acres, the sparkling roof being supported by great solid salt columns 60 feet square. When Canning visited the mine, it was lit up with thousands of candles and blue lights, producing a most brilliant effect. The rock salt is variegated and dirty-looking, and was first found in searching for coal; which, according to geological rule, may be reached some hundreds of feet lower. That from the springs is evaporated in immense iron pans; at Droitwich 260,000 tons are annually made in this way. About twice as much more is produced by the rock mines. The Nantwich trade has declined.

To tourists the Chester and Holyhead line offers an admirable means of reaching easily the most interesting spots in North Wales. Conway, with its glorious old castle and bridges, and Carnarvon, are within easy distance, as is also Snowdon’s huge peak, with the Clwydian Vale, and many other vallies of great beauty and celebrity, with an infinity of picturesque hills, waterfalls, and ruins. The Menai Bridge should not be forgotten by the traveller along this line of railway, nor its still more wondrous neighbours the Conway and Britannia Tubular Bridges. The latter, in particular, is a mighty construction, its proportions being gigantic in the extreme, and impressing the beholder with admiration at its surpassing grandeur and design.

Upon the opening of this railway Holyhead resumed its importance as a packet station for steamers plying to Dublin. The Chester and Holyhead Railway affords increased facilities of communication between London and Dublin, which were previously usurped by Liverpool. The Chester and Holyhead Railway shortened the time occupied in the journey from London to Dublin about five hours, the journey from London to Holyhead occupying eight hours, and the voyage by fast steam packets from thence to Dublin four hours. Thus the line is a very important one, in shortening the distance between the chief city in the British Isles and the important capital of Ireland, and adds another noble power to government in the facilities of communication.

That very noble pile of buildings, in the Italian style, the Chester station, is the longest of all the railway termini in England, and is the joint station for the following railways:—The London and North Western, the Chester and Holyhead, the Chester and Shrewsbury, and the Birkenhead companies. Each of these have a separate terminus there.

The station consists of a façade facing the city of Chester, 1,050 feet long, built of dark coloured bricks, relieved with stone facings and dressings. The centre, which is two stories in height, contains on the ground-floor the usual offices, waiting and refreshment rooms; and on the upper, the offices of the Chester and Holyhead, and Shrewsbury and Chester Companies, in which the business connected with the whole of their lines is conducted.

The wings formed by projecting arcades, with iron roofs, are appropriated to private and public vehicles waiting the arrival of trains.

On the inner side of the office buildings, a large platform extends, which is chiefly used for departing trains, and is 700 feet long by 20 feet wide; this, and three lines of rails, are all covered in with an iron roof, 60 feet span, which is one of the most elegant yet constructed.

In consequence of one of the public roads of the city crossing the rails close to the station, it was necessary to crect a bridge across the line.

Before pursuing his journey on the Main Line the tourist cannot do better than take a rapid survey of the line to Mold, for which purpose we here introduce a short sketch.

From Chester we pass BROUGHTON, to the right of which is Hawarden, a small market town in Flintshire, with Sir S. Glynne’s seat, Hawarden Castle, which was built in 1752, on the site of the old fortress. It contains old portraits, antiquities, and the ruins of the keep of the old seat which was destroyed in 1678, by Sergeant Glynne, and was a place of great celebrity during the Welsh Wars. We then reach BROUGHTON HALL, and soon after, the station at

Situated on Watts’ Dyke and the Alyn, over which there is an old bridge, has the ruins of a castle where Queen Eleanor (Edward I.’s wife) remained on her way to Carnarvon. Hope church contains the Trevor’s tombs.

In the vicinity are the borough of Caergwrle, with a population of 844, who return one member; Plas Tey, seat of C. Trevor, Esq., and Bryn Yorkyn, E. Yonge, Esq.

Near which are Leeswood, seat of J. W. Egton, Esq., and Plâs Newydd, the Marquis of Anglesea’s; thence we soon reach Llong, near which is a tower, the old three-storied and machicolated seat of the Wynnes, where the Mayor of Chester was murdered by the Welsh Prince Reinallt in 1475.

This town contains a population of 3,735,—who return one member—employed in the cotton factories and mines, three bridges, county hall for assizes, by Jones; school, mills, new market, St. Mary’s church, a fine edifice of the time of Henry VII., with a new font, by Archdeacon Clough; and tombs of Bishop Wharton, Davies of Llannerch, Wynn, the painter, and several tumuli. In the vicinity are a large earthwork, Bailey Hill, from which an extensive view may be obtained; Ruel, seat of Colonel Phillips; Merquis, Miss Grifliths; Hartsheath, Peutre, and Gwysaney.

From Chester the line of railway skirts along the side of the river Dee; afterwards its course, till near Conway, is close by the sea shore, and again it winds its way by the sea side to Beaumaris Bay, near Penmaen Mawr. The line of the railway being along the sea, much of the beautiful scenery of North Wales is lost; but by this route the undertaking was rendered easier of construction than it otherwise would have been. Yet there are many beautiful landscapes on the line, glimpses of the huge piles of mountains towering high above the vallies whence they rise; and ruins also to be noticed by the way-side, telling of ages past, adding historical interest to the charms of nature.

Upon leaving Chester the whistle of the engine announces our approach to the tunnel under North Gate Street and the adjacent gardens, and we immediately pass through this and merge through deep cuttings of red rock. The train then proceeds over the girder bridge, crossing the Ellesmere and Chester Canal, passing thence through the west angle of the city walls, on to the high and long embankment across the Tower Fields. The line is carried over a viaduct of 47 arches, and passes, on the left, the well known plains of Roodee, where the Chester races take place in the spring and autumn of the year.

Proceeding onwards, we cross the river Dee on the largest cast iron girder bridge in the kingdom, immediately after passing which the line traverses some deep cuttings in Brewer’s Hall Hill, from the summit of which Oliver Cromwell bombarded the city. We then reach the Saltney station, where the Shrewsbury line diverges to the left, and our train proceeding over Saltney pasture lands, runs parallel for seven miles with the river Dee. The plain on the right beyond the river is called Sealand, from its having been enclosed from the sea by the River Dee Company. After passing a small bridge over a brook, we enter the

We are now approaching the Welsh Mountains; the Clwydian Hills are seen in the distance; the one in the centre called Moel Fammau, or the Mother of Hills, is the loftiest, on the top of which is a jubilee column, erected to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of George III. The view from this elevation is most varied and extensive, comprising the Derbyshire Hills, the Wrekin in Shropshire, Snowdon, and Cader Idris in Wales, as well as the Cumberland Hills, and in clear weather even the Isle of Man.

Continuing our route, we pass, on the left, the branch railway to Mold, and shortly after reach Sandycroft, where there is a large foundry. Two miles to the left of this are seen the town and castle of Hawarden. There are several coal mines in the neighbourhood, and in the vicinity of Buckley are earthenware manufactories of considerable repute.

Proceeding onwards, we soon reach QUEEN’S FERRY station (Flintshire). On leaving this station the line passes through deep cuttings and a short tunnel, and immediately afterwards we have a fine view of the estuary of the Dee, which at high tide assumes the appearance of an arm of the sea, covered at times with innumerable vessels.

About a mile to the left is the mansion of Edward Bates, Esq., which commands a particularly fine view of the estuary and the Cheshire shore.

A little further on is Leadbrook, so named from the profusion of lead ore obtained in the neighbourhood and the adjacent hills, particularly in the Halkin Mountain, the metallic productions of which have been immense; one spot alone having yielded, in the space of a few years, upwards of a million sterling in value. The porcelain clay at Halkin is also considered very fine.

This station is situated in the centre of the town, which is a sea port and market town, with a population of 3,428, who return one member, as well as the county itself. There are extensive collieries, the coals from which are shipped from here to Liverpool, Ireland, and various parts of Wales. The ruins of Flint Castle are seen on the right, at no very great distance from the railway, situated on a rock which juts out towards the sea. It is a memento of other ages, and is peculiarly rich in historical associations, one of the most celebrated events connected with it being the deposition of Richard II. The castle is but a mere shell, there being left only the grey ruined walls, and the two outside concentric walls with the gallery, to attest its former strength and grandeur.

On leaving the station the line proceeds over Flint Marsh, to the left of which is Coles Hill, where a battle was fought, between Owen Gwyndwr and Henry II., in which the latter was defeated.

During the last twenty years this town has become of some importance, in consequence of several very extensive collieries and lead works which have been established here. A large portion of the lead ore produced in different parts of the kingdom is brought here for smelting. On the hill to the left are seen the ruins of Basingwerk Abbey, built by the Earls of Chester, beautifully situated just above the road, and commanding extensive views of the river Dee, Hilbree Island, &c. Close at hand is Bagillt Hall, the fine old seat of the Griffiths.

The important town of Holywell is situated about a mile from the station. Population 5,335, and built on the declivity of a hill, which gradually extends to Greenfield, the surrounding hill forming a kind of amphitheatre. It is one of the first towns in North Wales, in a commercial point of view. The far-famed Holy Well of St. Winifrede is worthy of a pilgrimage, its architecture is so rich, and well repays a halt at the station to go and visit it. The town owes its origin to this well, its stream having been made available to turn the machinery of extensive mills and manufactories; some of which are closed, but the Holy Well is as strong as ever in all its purity, ever gushing and throwing up 85 hogsheads of water per minute, as brilliantly clear as possible. It is visited by numbers of persons, who test its efficacy by the enjoyment of restored health. As a cold bath, perhaps, it is unequalled. Small cabins are built for the convenience of persons wishing to bathe. There are several paper mills in the vicinity.

A short distance further on, concealed in a wood, is the seat of Lord Fielding, the views from which are exceedingly fine, particularly that towards the sea. The next object that attracts attention is Christ Church, situated on a delightful rural eminence above the estuary of the Dee.

This place has become of considerable importance from the collieries in the neighbourhood, producing about 70,000 tons annually, and which are considered the most extensive works in all the coal fields of Flintshire, and extend from east to west about twenty miles.

About half a mile on the left is Mostyn Hall, at which is the window through which Henry VII. escaped from Richard III., and the family pedigree, 42 feet in length, traced from Adam, the mansion of the late Hon. E. M. L. Mostyn, one of the oldest families in North Wales.

Leaving this station the train passes over Gwespyr Marsh, which was enclosed from the sea in 1811. On the right, and nearly in the centre of the estuary of the Dee, is situated Hilbree Island, and in the same direction Hoylake, the extreme point of the peninsula of Wirral, in Cheshire.

The village of Gwespyr, celebrated for its quarries of freestone, is situated on the hill to the left. The Custom House of Liverpool is built of the stone from these quarries.

Talacre, the beautiful seat of Sir Pyers Mostyn, Bart., is situated on a gentle eminence. It is a very splendid mansion with two fronts, and commands magnificent views of the sea. The village on the hill is Gronant; above which is the Observatory. On the right, close to the shore, is the life boat house.

Here the country is flat, but extremely fertile in corn, especially wheat, and continues so as far as Rhuddlan, and thence along the coast to Abergele.

Proceeding onward we pass the village of Melidan, with its rural Church, on the left; close to which, under a rock, are situated the Talargoch Lead Mines, celebrated as having produced more lead ore than any other mine in the country during the last century, the quantity raised averaging 3,000 tons annually. The ruins of Dyserth Castle, built in Henry II.’s time, are in the vicinity; and a mile beyond which is Bodryddon, the ancient seat of the Conways, situated in a fine forest.

RHYL is a fashionable watering place for the North Wallians and Liverpool people; it is reputed one of the best bathing places in Wales. The beauty of the scenery, salubrity of the air, and firmness of the sand, render it a place of considerable attraction to visitors from all parts of the kingdom. It is situated at the entrance of the celebrated vale of Clwyd, which extends twenty miles in length, and about ten miles in breadth, flanked on both sides with elevated hills. Snowdon can be seen.

In addition to the Hotels and Inns there are hundreds of elegant and respectable Lodging Houses, capable of affording excellent accommodation for visitors, at very moderate charges. There are bathing establishments and machines in abundance.

On the left of Rhyl are the celebrated range of British Posts, on the Clwydian Hills; established as a bulwark against an invading enemy.

	Miles.
Abercastle	17¾
Abermause	17
Benton Castle	9
Bishop’s Palace at St. Davids	17¼
Cardigan	26
Carew Castle	15
Cathedral(St. Davids)	16½
Cromlech (2 miles) from Nevern Church	18
Devil’s Punch Bowl	20
Huntsman’s Leap	21
Milford	7½
Pembroke Castle	11½
Penlan Castle	17
Picton Castle	4¾
Poyntz Castle	7
Roch Castle	6
Skower and Skokam Islands	12
Soloa Valley	8
St. Bride’s Bay	5
St. Davids	16
Walwin Castle	4

HOLME LACEY.

HEREFORD.

South Wales Main Line continued. Grange Court to Newport.

NEWNHAM,

WOOLASTON.

MONMOUTH,

CHEPSTOW.

NEWPORT.

MONMOUTHSHIRE LINE.

WEST MIDLAND.

Newport to Abergavenny and Hereford.

PONTYPOOL ROAD.

TAFF VALE EXTENSION.

COLEFORD, MONMOUTH, USK, AND PONTYPOOL.

Pontypool Road to Monmouth.

USK.

RAGLAN ROAD,

DINGESTOW,

MONMOUTH.

West Midland Main Line continued. Pontypool Road to Abergavenny.

ABERGAVENNY.

PONTRILAS.

SHREWSBURY AND HEREFORD.

Hereford to Shrewsbury.

MORETON.

LEOMINSTER.

KINGTON & LEOMINSTER BRANCH.

Leominster to Kington.

PEMBRIDGE.

KINGTON.

TENBURY,

LUDLOW.

KNIGHTON RAILWAY.

Craven Arms to Knighton.

BUCKNELL.

KNIGHTON.

CHURCH STRETTON.

CONDOVER.

South Wales continued. Newport to Cardiff.

GLAMORGANSHIRE,

CARDIFF.

TAFF VALE.

Cardiff to Aberdare and Merthyr.

LLANDAFF.

ABERDARE BRANCH.

ABERDARE.

Taff Vale Main Line continued.

MERTHYR.

BRECON.

South Wales continued.

Cardiff to Neath.

LLANTRISSANT.

BRIDGEND.

PORT TALBOT.

NEATH.

VALE OF NEATH RAILWAY.

Neath to Merthyr.

South Wales continued. Neath to Llanelly.

LANDORE (Swansea Junction).

SWANSEA.

CARMARTHENSHIRE,

LLANELLY.

LLANELLY RAILWAY AND DOCKS.

Llanelly to Llandilo and Llandovery.

LLANDILO.

LLANGADOCK.

LLANDOVERY.

South Wales Main Line continued. Llanelly to Milford Haven.

PEMBREY.

KIDWELLY.

CARMARTHEN.

ST. CLEARS.

PEMBROKESHIRE.

WHITLAND.

NARBERTH ROAD

(For Tenby).

TENBY.

CLARBESTON ROAD.