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THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD




WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.


=ENGLISH PEN ARTISTS OF TO-DAY=: Examples of their work, with some
Criticisms and Appreciations. Super royal 4to, L3 3_s._ net.

=THE BRIGHTON ROAD=: Old Times and New on a Classic Highway. With 95
Illustrations by the Author and from old prints. Demy 8vo, 16_s._

=FROM PADDINGTON TO PENZANCE=: The Record of a Summer Tramp. With 105
Illustrations by the Author. Demy 8vo, 16_s._

=A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF DRAWING FOR MODERN METHODS OF REPRODUCTION.=
Illustrated by the Author and others. Demy 8vo, 7_s._ 6_d._

=THE MARCHES OF WALES=: Notes and Impressions on the Welsh Borders, from
the Severn Sea to the Sands o' Dee. With 115 Illustrations by the Author
and from old-time portraits. Demy 8vo, 16_s._

=REVOLTED WOMAN=: Past, Present, and to Come. Illustrated by the Author
and from old-time portraits. Demy 8vo, 5_s._ net.

=THE DOVER ROAD=: Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. With 100 Illustrations by
the Author and from other sources. Demy 8vo. [_In the Press._




[Illustration:

  "_Till, woe is me, so lubberly,
  The vermin came and pressed me._"

_From a painting by George Morland._]




  _THE PORTSMOUTH
  ROAD AND ITS TRIBUTARIES:
  TO-DAY AND IN DAYS OF OLD._

  BY CHARLES G. HARPER,

  AUTHOR OF The Brighton Road,
  Marches of Wales, Drawing for
  Reproduction, &c., &c., &c.


  [Illustration]


  _Illustrated by the Author, and from
  Old-time Prints and Pictures._

  LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL LIMITED
  1895
  (_All Rights Reserved._)




  RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
  LONDON & BUNGAY.




TO HENRY REICHARDT, ESQ.


_My dear Reichardt,_

_Here is the result of two years' hard work for your perusal; the outcome
of delving amid musty, dusty files of by-gone newspapers; of research
among forgotten books, and pamphlets curious and controversial; of country
jaunts along this old road both for pleasures sake and for taking the
notes and sketches that go towards making up the story of this old
highway._

_You will appreciate, more than most, the difficulties of contriving a
well-ordered narrative of times so clean forgotten as those of old-road
travel, and better still will you perceive the largeness of the task of
transmuting the notes and sketches of this undertaking into paper and
print. Hence this dedication._

  _Yours, &c._,
    CHARLES G. HARPER.




Preface


_There has been of late years a remarkable and widespread revival of
interest in the old coach-roads of England; a revival chiefly owing to the
modern amateur's enthusiasm for coaching; partly due to the healthy sport
and pastime of cycling, that brings so many afield from populous cities
who would otherwise grow stunted in body and dull of brain; and in degree
owing to the contemplative spirit that takes delight in scenes of by-gone
commerce and activity, prosaic enough, to the most of them that lived in
the Coaching Age, but now become hallowed by mere lapse of years and the
supersession of horse-flesh by steam-power._

_The Story of the Roads belongs now to History, and History is, to your
thoughtful man, quite as interesting as the best of novels. Sixty years
ago the Story of the Roads was brought to an end, and at that time (so
unheeded is the romance of every-day life) it seemed a story of the most
commonplace type, not worthy the telling. But we have gained what was of
necessity denied our fathers and grandfathers in this matter--the charm of
Historical Perspective, that lends a saving grace to experiences of the
most ordinary description, and to happenings the most untoward. Our
forebears travelled the roads from necessity, and saw nothing save
unromantic discomforts in their journeyings to and fro. We who read the
records of their times are apt to lament their passing, and to wish the
leisured life and not a few of the usages of our grandfathers back again.
The wish is vain, but natural, for it is a characteristic of every
succeeding generation to look back lovingly on times past, and in the
retrospect to see in roseate colours what was dull and, neutral-tinted to
folk who lived their lives in those by-gone days._

_If we only could pierce to the thought of aeons past, perhaps we should
find the men of the Stone Age regretting the times of the Arboreal
Ancestor, and should discover that distant relative, while swinging by his
prehensile tail from the branches of some forest tree, lamenting the
careless, irresponsible life of his remote forebear, the Primitive
Pre-atomic Globule._

_However that may be, certain it is that when our day is done, when Steam
shall have been dethroned and natural forces of which we know nothing have
revolutionized the lives of our descendants, those heirs of all the ages
will look back regretfully upon this Era of ours, and wistfully meditate
upon the romantic life we led towards the end of the nineteenth century!_

_The glamour of old-time travel has appealed to me equally with others of
my time, and has led me to explore the old coach-roads and their records.
Work of this kind is a pleasure, and the programme I have mapped out of
treating all the classic roads of England in this wise, is, though long
and difficult, not (to quote a horsey phrase suitable to this subject) all
"collar work."_

CHARLES G. HARPER.

  35, CONNAUGHT STREET, HYDE PARK,
  LONDON, _April 1895_.




LIST _of_ ILLVSTRATIONS


  SEPARATE PLATES

                                                            PAGE

   1. THE PRESS GANG. _By George Morland._         Frontispiece.

   2. OLD "ELEPHANT AND CASTLE," 1824                         22

   3. "ELEPHANT AND CASTLE," 1826                             30

   4. ADMIRAL BYNG                                            48

   5. A STRANGE SIGHT SOME TIME HENCE                         52

   6. THE SHOOTING OF ADMIRAL BYNG                            56

   7. WILLIAM PITT                                            74

   8. THE RECRUITING SERGEANT                                 90

   9. ROAD AND RAIL: DITTON MARSH, NIGHT                      94

  10. THE "NEW TIMES" GUILDFORD COACH                         98

  11. THE "TALLY-HO" HAMPTON COURT AND DORKING COACH         104

  12. MICKLEHAM CHURCH                                       108

  13. BROCKHAM BRIDGE                                        114

  14. ESHER PLACE                                            120

  15. LORD CLIVE                                             124

  16. PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES                            128

  17. THE "ANCHOR," RIPLEY                                   142

  18. GUILDHALL, GUILDFORD                                   148

  19. CASTLE ARCH                                            152

  20. AN INN YARD, 1747. _After Hogarth_                     162

  21. THE "RED ROVER" GUILDFORD AND SOUTHAMPTON COACH        166

  22. ST. CATHERINE'S CHAPEL. _After J. M. W. Turner_        170

  23. MARY TOFTS                                             178

  24. NEW GODALMING STATION                                  184

  25. THE DEVIL'S PUNCH BOWL                                 194

  26. HINDHEAD. _After J. M. W. Turner_                      198

  27. TYNDALL'S HOUSE                                        208

  28. SAMUEL PEPYS                                           236

  29. JOHN WILKES                                            240

  30. SAILORS CAROUSING. _From a Sketch by Rowlandson_       252

  31. THE "FLYING BULL" INN                                  268

  32. PETERSFIELD MARKET-PLACE                               278

  33. THE "COACH AND HORSES" INN                             298

  34. CATHERINGTON CHURCH                                    320

  35. AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE ON THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD.
      _By Rowlandson_                                        330

  36. THE SAILOR'S RETURN                                    334

  37. TRUE BLUE; OR BRITAIN'S JOLLY TARS PAID OFF AT
      PORTSMOUTH, 1797. _By Isaac Cruikshank_                338

  38. THE LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT, 1782. _By James
      Gillray_                                               346


ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

                                                            PAGE

  The Revellers                                               12

  Edward Gibbon                                               19

  "Dog and Duck" Tavern                                       28

  Sign of the "Dog and Duck"                                  29

  Jonas Hanway                                                43

  "If the shades of those antagonists foregather"             44

  The First Umbrella                                          46

  The "Green Man," Putney Heath                               70

  The Windmill, Wimbledon Common                              74

  Mr. Walter Shoolbred                                        97

  Boots at the "Bear"                                        102

  The "Bear," Esher                                          103

  Burford Bridge                                             111

  The "White Horse," Dorking                                 112

  The Road to Dorking                                        113

  Castle Mill                                                117

  Cobham Churchyard                                          137

  Pain's Hill                                                139

  Fame up-to-Date                                            142

  Herbert Liddell Cortis                                     146

  Market-House, Godalming                                    176

  Charterhouse Relics                                        189

  Gowser Jug                                                 190

  Wesley                                                     191

  Bust of Nelson                                             192

  Tombstone, Thursley                                        204

  Thursley Church                                            205

  Sun-dial, Thursley                                         206

  "Considering Cap"                                          223

  Milland Chapel                                             260

  "The Wakes," Selborne                                      261

  Badge of the Selborne Society                              267

  The "Flying Bull" Sign                                     271

  The "Jolly Drovers"                                        272

  "Shaved with Trouble and Cold Water"                       284

  Edward Gibbon                                              288

  Windy Weather                                              304

  Benighted                                                  319

  Dancing Sailor                                             361




THE ROAD TO PORTSMOUTH


                                             Miles

  Stone's End, Borough, to--

  Newington                                    1/4

  Vauxhall                                   1-1/2

  Battersea Rise                             4

  Wandsworth (cross River Wandle)            5-1/2

  Tibbet's Corner, Putney Heath              7-3/4

  "Robin Hood," Kingston Vale                9

  Norbiton Church                           11-1/4

  Kingston Market-place                     12

  Thames Ditton                             13-3/4

  Esher                                     16

  Cobham Street (cross River Mole)          19-1/2

  Wisley Common                             20-1/4

  Ripley                                    23-1/2

  Guildford (cross River Wey)               29-1/2

  St. Catherine's Hill                      30-1/2

  Peasmarsh Common (cross River Wey)        31-1/4

  Godalming                                 34

  Milford                                   35-3/4

  Moushill and Witley Commons               36-1/4

  Hammer Ponds                              38-1/2

  Hindhead (Gibbet Hill)                    41-1/4

  Cold Ash Hill and "Seven Thorns" Inn      44-1/4

  Liphook ("Royal Anchor")                  46-3/4

  Milland Common                            47-1/2

  Rake                                      50-1/4

  Sheet Bridge (cross River Rother)         53-3/4

  Petersfield                               55

  "Coach and Horses"                        59

  Horndean                                  62-1/2

  Waterlooville and White Lane End          65-1/2

  Purbrook (cross Purbrook stream)          66-1/2

  Cosham                                    68-1/4

  Hilsea                                    69-1/2

  North End                                 70-3/4

  Landport                                  71-1/2

  Portsmouth Town                           72

  Portsmouth, Victoria Pier                 73




_The Portsmouth Road_




I


The Portsmouth Road is measured (or was measured when road-travel was the
only way of travelling on _terra firma_, and coaches the chiefest machines
of progression) from the Stone's End, Borough. It went by Vauxhall to
Wandsworth, Putney Heath, Kingston-on-Thames, Guildford, and Petersfield;
and thence came presently into Portsmouth through the Forest of Bere and
past the frowning battlements of Porchester. The distance was, according
to Cary,--that invaluable guide, philosopher, and friend of our
grandfathers,--sevent