What to See in England
By Gordon Home

Presented by

Public Domain Books

Eversley

THE HOME OF CHARLES KINGSLEY

=How to get there.=–Train from Waterloo. South-Western Railway. =Nearest Stations.=–Wokingham, 5 miles; Winchfield, 7 miles. =Distance from London.=–Wokingham, 36-1/2 miles; Winchfield, 39 miles. =Average Time.=–Wokingham, 2 hours; Winchfield, 1-1/2 hours.

=Fares.=–
                      Single.                    Return.
              1st      2nd      3rd       1st      2nd      3rd
Wokingham   5s. 6d.  3s. 9d.  3s. 0d.   9s. 0d.  6s. 6d.  6s. 0d.
Winchfield  6s. 6d.  4s. 0d.  3s. 3d.  11s. 6d.  7s. 2d.  6s. 6d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=–Small village inn at Eversley. “George
  Hotel” at Odiham, 2 miles from Winchfield Station; very old
  and picturesque.
=Alternative route.=–Train to Wellington College. S.E. and C. Rly.

The drive from Winchfield (7 miles) is chiefly across beautiful heathery commons; from Wokingham the road is more enclosed with hedges. Eversley Church and rectory stand almost alone, save for a farmhouse and barns, being nearly a mile from the other portions of the village. The church is very picturesquely situated on sloping ground, an avenue of yews leading from the lych gate to the porch. Inside, the building has suffered a good deal from restoration, but the pulpit from which Kingsley preached his stirring sermons remains unaltered. The rectory is a very old building which has been modernised on the side fronting on the road. On the lawn stands the group of glorious Scotch firs which Kingsley was never tired of watching. Their boughs sweep downwards and almost touch the grass, and their great red trunks are a strong contrast to the dense green of the surrounding foliage.

In one of the sitting-rooms is a set of drawers in which Kingsley kept a collection of fossils. His grave is on the side of the church yard nearest the overshadowing branches of the Scotch firs. The Runic cross of white marble is a beautiful one. The head is ornamented with a spray of passion flower and bears upon it the words “God is Love.” On the base are the words “Amavimus, amamus, amabimus.”

The neighbouring district of Bramshill has still the little thatched cottage where Kingsley used to conduct a little simple service on Sunday afternoons. The whole of the country surrounding Bramshill Park is closely covered with self-sown firs, and the commons interspersed among the forest lands are covered with heather and gorse. This was the country Kingsley loved, whether he was riding over it with the local pack of foxhounds or on a visit to one of his parishioners.

[Illustration: EVERSLEY RECTORY.

The scene of the labours of Charles Kingsley.]

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

[Buy at Amazon]
What to see in England;: A guide to places of historic interest, natural beauty or literary association,
By Gordon Home
At Amazon