Shottermill
THE HOME OF GEORGE ELIOT
=How to get there.=–Train from Waterloo Station. L. and S.W.
Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Haslemere (1 mile by road from Shottermill
village).
=Distance from London.=–43 miles.
=Average Time.=–From 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 7s. 2d. 4s. 6d. 3s. 7d.
Return 12s. 6d. 8s. 0d. 6s. 8d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–At Haslemere–"White Horse Hotel,"
“Swan Hotel,” etc. “Oakland’s Mansion Private Hotel.”
This lovely little village, on the slopes of Hindhead, with its breezy
uplands, its hills covered with Scotch firs and its undulating tracts of
land, so beautiful in the autumn with the glorious purple heather, was
much beloved by George Eliot, known to the whole world as the writer of
Adam Bede and the Mill on the Floss. In 1871, while Middlemarchwas appearing in parts, George Eliot, who as Mr. Lewes said, “never
seemed at home except under a broad sweep of sky,” spent part of the
spring and summer at Brookbank,–an old-fashioned gabled cottage in the
village (close to the church) with delightful lattice-paned
windows,–belonging to a Mrs. Gilchrist. At this time George Eliot was
in a delicate state of health and scarcely equal to finishing her new
story. One cannot call it a novel, for it had no plot. It was simply a
remarkable picture of provincial life in the first half of the
nineteenth century. George Eliot greatly enjoyed her quiet life at
Shottermill, although many of her friends thought it incomprehensible
that she could endure such a secluded life. One can scarcely read her
graphic description of the sweet beauty of a Warwickshire lane, with its
hedgerows all radiant in summer beauty, without feeling how much this
remarkable woman loved it all, and in some degree one may understand how
restful were the village surroundings. They led a most uneventful life,
but occasionally would pay a visit to Tennyson, whose house at Aldworth
was only 3 miles off. George Eliot rarely went out in the daytime, but
sometimes she would go to see some cottagers and have a chat with them.
A farmer’s wife was greatly astonished at her knowledge of
butter-making, and of the growth of fruit and vegetables, little
imagining that in her early days, after her mother’s death, the great
authoress had managed the dairy in her own home at Griff House.
[Illustration: BROOKBANK.
George Eliot’s cottage at Shottermill, near Haslemere.]
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]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006ADKOC.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg)