What to See in England
By Gordon Home

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Carisbrooke Castle

=How to get there.=–Train from Victoria or London Bridge via Portsmouth and Ryde. London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. =Nearest Station.=–Carisbrooke. =Distance from London.=–88 miles. =Average Time.=–Varies between 3-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours.

                     1st       2nd       3rd
=Fares.=–Single  16s. 4d.  10s. 8d.   9s. 1d.
          Return  28s. 4d.  18s. 6d.  16s. 8d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Red Lion Hotel,” “Waverley Hotel,"
  “Eight Bells Hotel,” “Castle Hotel,” “Temperance Hotel,” etc.
=Alternative Route.=–Train from Waterloo via Cowes and Ryde.
  L. and S.W. Railway.

Carisbrooke village is a charming place delightfully situated in the centre of the island. The castle (the charge for entering is 4d.) stands on a wooded hill at an elevation of 150 feet. The summit of the hill forms a level plateau about 20 acres in extent, all enclosed by the castle walls. Sir Walter Scott is said to have had this castle in his mind when writing Marmion. Beyond the great interest attached to the fact that it was here that Charles I. was confined, the castle does not figure very prominently in history. The fact, however, that this unfortunate monarch was imprisoned here in 1647 by the Parliament will be always sufficient to give its ancient walls and battlements a never-dying interest. When Charles was brought to the castle he was treated more as a guest than a prisoner, but after his attempted escape the king was much more closely watched and his pleasures curtailed. The story of the king attempting in vain to get through his bedroom window is known to all. Everything was in readiness, the details of rescue were all carefully prepared. Captain Titus and others of the guard had been won over to assist the king, and had King Charles negotiated the narrow window, in all probability the escape would have been a success. In 1650, the year after Charles I. was beheaded, Henry Duke of Gloucester and the Princess Elizabeth were brought to the castle. Shortly after her arrival the princess, who was of a sickly constitution, took a severe chill and was found one morning by her attendants lying dead on a couch. Queen Victoria had a beautiful monument erected to her memory in Newport Church. The Well House, where the water is drawn from the depth of 150 feet by a clever donkey and draw-wheel, is an interesting feature of the castle. Princess Beatrice is the present Governor of the Island.

[Illustration: CARISBROOKE CASTLE.

Where Charles I. was imprisoned in 1647.]

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