Brantwood
THE HOME OF JOHN RUSKIN
=How to get there.=–Train from Euston. L. and N.W. Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Coniston Lake (Brantwood is on the eastern side
of Coniston Lake).
=Distance from London.=–279 miles.
=Average Time.=–Varies between 8-1/4 to 9-1/4 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 41s. 1d. ... 23s. 2-1/2d.
Return 80s. 5d. ... 46s. 5d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Waterhead Hotel,” etc.
=Alternative Route.=–Train from St. Pancras. Midland Railway.
The road to Brantwood from Coniston runs under the shade of beautiful
trees, at the head of Coniston Water. After leaving behind the village
and the Thwaite, with its peacocks strutting in its old-world gardens,
one skirts the grounds of Monk Coniston. Soon afterwards Tent Lodge,
where Tennyson once lived, is passed. Afterwards comes Low Bank Ground,
which is only a short distance from Brantwood. The situation, as one may
see from the drawing given opposite, is one of great natural advantages,
while the house is quite unassuming; its simple white walls, however,
give one the sense of a comfortable if unpretending home. The interior
has been described as giving an impression “of solid, old-fashioned
furniture, of amber-coloured damask curtains and coverings.” There were
Turner’s and other water-colours in curly frames upon the drawing-room
walls.
Writing of his earliest recollections of Coniston, in Praeterita,
Ruskin says: “The inn at Coniston was then actually at the upper end of
the lake, the road from Ambleside to the village passing just between it
and the water, and the view of the long reach of lake, with its
softly-wooded, lateral hills, had for my father a tender charm, which
excited the same feeling as that with which he afterward regarded the
lakes of Italy.” Ruskin’s death in 1900 took place at Brantwood. George
Eliot, in speaking of him, said, “I venerate Ruskin as one of the
greatest teachers of the age. He teaches with the inspiration of a
Hebrew prophet.”
Ruskin was the son of a wealthy wine merchant, and was born in London in
1819. He studied at Oxford, where he gained the Newdigate prize for
English poetry in 1839. After taking his degree, in the following year
appeared his first volume of Modern Painters, the design of which was
to prove the great superiority of modern landscape-painters,
particularly Turner, over the old masters.
[Illustration: RUSKIN’S HOUSE AT BRANTWOOD.
The room with the turret window was Ruskin’s bedroom.]
Continue...
Preface •
Ham House and Petersham •
Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle) •
Harrow •
Holwood House, Keston •
Chigwell, Essex •
Waltham Abbey and Cross •
Downe •
Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts •
Epping Forest •
Hampton Court •
Rye House, Broxbourne •
Hatfield House, Herts •
Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta •
The Oldest Brass in England •
St. Albans •
Stoke Poges Church, Bucks •
Windsor •
Jordans and William Penn •
Knole House and Sevenoaks •
Greenstead Church •
Chalfont St. Giles •
Westerham •
Guildford, Surrey •
Gad’s Hill •
Ightham Mote, Kent •
Penshurst •
St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion •
Rochester Cathedral •
Tunbridge Wells •
The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey •
Eversley •
Farnham, Surrey •
Hindhead, Surrey •
Shottermill •
Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex •
Chawton the Home of Jane Austen •
Selborne •
Elstow •
Lewes, Sussex •
Bodiam Castle, Sussex •
Colchester, Essex •
Layer Marney •
Battle Abbey •
Cambridge •
Arundel Castle •
Olney, Bucks •
Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great •
Canterbury and Its Cathedral •
Reculvers •
Oxford •
Midhurst •
Pevensey Castle •
Savernake Forest •
Ely Cathedral •
St. Ives, Huntingdonshire •
Winchelsea and Rye •
Blenheim Palace •
Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland •
Peterborough •
Southampton •
Helmingham Hall •
Stonehenge, Wiltshire •
Netley Abbey •
Salisbury and Its Cathedral •
Sandwich, Kent •
New Forest, Hampshire •
Osborne House •
Carisbrooke Castle •
Lutterworth •
Compton Wynyates •
Kenilworth Castle •
Belvoir Castle •
Bath •
Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers •
Warwick •
Gloucester and Its Cathedral •
Norfolk Broads •
Norwich Cathedral •
Lichfield •
Sherborne and Its Abbey Church •
Newark •
Wells and Its Cathedral •
Stratford-On-Avon •
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk •
Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire •
Corfe Castle •
Lincoln and Its Cathedral •
Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson •
Glastonbury Abbey •
Walsingham, Norfolk •
Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset •
Newstead Abbey •
The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances •
Tintern Abbey •
Chesterfield, Derbyshire •
Dukeries •
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire •
The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor •
Raglan Castle •
Dovedale •
Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire •
Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop •
Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire •
Ludlow and Its Castle •
Shrewsbury •
Buxton and the Peak District •
Tewkesbury •
Exeter and Its Cathedral •
Market Drayton, Salop •
Chester •
Exmoor •
Knutsford •
Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset •
Cleeve Abbey, Somerset •
Hawarden •
York Minster •
Coxwold, Yorkshire •
Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey •
Knaresborough, Dripping Well •
Fountains Abbey •
Ripon Cathedral •
Dartmoor •
Haworth •
Rievaulx Abbey •
Brixham, Devon •
Conway Castle •
The Doone Valley, Exmoor •
Llandovery, South Wales •
Dartmouth, Devon •
Richmond, Yorkshire •
Tintagel •
Whitby •
Carnarvon Castle •
Plymouth •
Durham and Its Cathedral •
Raby Castle, Durham •
Snowdon •
Harlech Castle •
Grasmere and Rydal Mount •
The Lake District •
St. Davids Cathedral •
Furness Abbey, Lancashire •
Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow •
The Isle of Man •
Brantwood •
Fowey •
Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall •
The Lake District •
Keswick •
Alnwick Castle •
Lanercost Priory, Cumberland •
Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.] •
St. Ives, Cornwall •
Bamborough Castle, Northumberland
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