What to See in England
By Gordon Home

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Hindhead, Surrey

=How to get there.=–Train from Waterloo. L. and S.W. Railway. =Nearest Station.=–Haslemere. =Distance from London.=–43 miles. =Average Time.=–1-1/2 hours.

                     1st      2nd      3rd
=Fares.=–Single   7s. 2d.  4s. 6d.  3s. 7d.
          Return  12s. 6d.  8s. 0d.  6s. 8d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Old Swan Hotel,” “The Hindhead
  Beacon,” “White Horn Hotel,” Haslemere. “Hindhead
  Hotel,” “Royal Anchor Hotel,” Liphook, etc.

The Hindhead district, not long ago one of the wildest in the home counties, has of late been much encroached upon by the erection of modern villas and houses. A few years back there was scarcely a vestige of human habitation to be seen from the road skirting the “Devil’s Punchbowl,” or the descent on the other side, but since the time Professor Tyndall built his house there, the aspect of the country has been in places considerably changed.

From Haslemere Station one may take a direct road to the Hindhead summit, but the most interesting route is through Shottermill, about a mile distant (see p. 64). From here an easy walk takes one into the main Portsmouth road close to the Seven Thorns Inn, where there is a long ascent to the summit of Hindhead, with its inn, the Royal Huts Hotel. Close by is the village of Grayshott, now fast growing into a place of considerable residential importance. Following the road Londonwards, one arrives in a few hundred yards at the very highest point of the road over Hindhead, after which it drops gently, skirting the magnificent hollow known as the “Devil’s Punchbowl.” On the left-hand side, in the loneliest part of the road, is the gruesome tombstone which marks the spot where an unknown sailor was murdered and robbed while tramping from Portsmouth to London. This stone and its surroundings, it will be remembered, are mentioned in Nicholas Nickleby, in the account of the walk of Nicholas and Smike from London to Portsmouth. Close by, on the opposite side of the road, there is a rough sandy track–once the old coach road–which leads up to the stone cross on the extreme summit of the Hindhead–900 feet above sea-level–where the murderers of the sailor were executed, and hung in chains. The view from this point, aptly named Gibbet Hill, is quite magnificent for Surrey.

On the northern slope of Blackdown–the high ridge of hills towards the south-east–is Aldworth House, where Tennyson resided in his latter years.

[Illustration: THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD.

Near the highest point, where it crosses Hindhead.]

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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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What to see in England;: A guide to places of historic interest, natural beauty or literary association,
By Gordon Home
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