SALISBURY AND THE RIVERS
There are three obvious ways of approaching Salisbury from Shaftesbury
and the west: by railway from Semley; by the main road, part of the
great trunk highway from London to Exeter via Yeovil; and by a kind of
loop road that leaves this at Whitesand Cross and follows the valley
of the Ebble between the lonely hills of Cranborne Chase and the long
line of chalk downs that have their escarpment to the north,
overlooking the Exeter road. These are all good ways, but there is
even a fourth, only practicable for good walkers, that keeps to the
top of the Downs until the Salisbury Race Course above Netherhampton
is reached. This is a splendid route, with magnificent views to the
left and north, and some to be lingered over in the opposite
direction, and the finest of all when the slender needle of Salisbury
spire pierces the blue ahead.
Three miles out of Shaftesbury a road leaves the main route on the
left for Donhead St. Mary; another by-way from this village joins the
highway farther on and adds but a mile or so to the journey. The
church, high up on its hill, is an interesting structure, mainly
Norman and Early English with some sixteenth-century additions. The
round font belongs to the older style. A memorial to one Antonio
Guillemot should be noticed. He was a refugee Carthusian, who came
here with some brother monks during the French Terror. They found
sanctuary at a farm-house placed at their disposal by Lord Arundell of
Wardour, and now called the "Priory," because of its associations. Not
far from the village is Castle Rings, an encampment from which there
is a grand view of the Wilts and Somerset borderland. In one of the
chalky combes just below the hill is an old Quaker burial ground, as
remote and lonely as the more famous Jordans ground was before the
American visitor began to make that a place of pilgrimage. Donhead St.
Andrew, a mile from St. Mary's, is in an entirely different situation
to the latter, the Perpendicular church being at the bottom of a deep
hollow. Both villages are very charming.
The main route continues amid surroundings of much beauty, with the
well-named White Sheet Hill to the right and the wooded and hummocky
outline of Ansty Hill to the left, until the turning for the latter
makes a good excuse for leaving the high road once more. Ansty
village, seven miles from Shaftesbury, is unremarkable in itself, but
has close by it one of the most picturesque and historic ruins in
Wiltshire. The demolition of Wardour Castle came about in this wise.
At the outbreak of the Civil War the owner, Sir Thomas Arundell, was
away from home with the army around the King. Lady Arundell decided to
defend the Castle with the small force at her disposal, barely fifty
men all told, but helped and sustained by the women servants, who kept
the garrison fed and supplied with ammunition. This handful of
defenders held at bay for five days a well-armed force of 1,300 men
commanded by Sir Edward Hungerford, and made good terms for itself
before marching out. These, however, were not faithfully kept by the
Roundheads who, in occupying the Castle, were commanded by Edmund
Ludlow. Sir Thomas (or Lord Arundell, his title had not then received
formal recognition) died of wounds received in one of the western
battles just after the capitulation and his son in turn laid siege to
his own home. The resistance was as stubborn as his mother's had been,
the force within the Castle being many times as great. All hope of
dislodging the Roundheads being lost, the New Lord of Wardour resolved
to blow up the walls with mines, placed beneath them under cover of
darkness. This was done to such good purpose that the garrison, or all
that was left of it, was forced at once to surrender.
[Illustration: WARDOUR CASTLE.]
The castle and estates had been acquired from the Grevilles by the
Arundells, an old Cornish family, in the early sixteenth century. The
Arundells were convinced Catholics, and the first of the family to own
Wardour was beheaded in 1552 "as a rebel and traitor" or rather, "as
his conscience was of more value to him than his head." As we see the
building to day it forms a fine example of fifteenth-century
architecture, despite its dismantled state. The walls are fairly
perfect and the eastern entrance with its two towers, approached by a
stately terrace, is most imposing. The gateway is surmounted by an
inscription referring to the two Arundells of the Great Rebellion;
above is a niche containing a bust of Christ and the words "SUB NOMINE
TUO STET GENUS ET DOMUS." The entrance to the stairs, an arch in the
Classic Renaissance style, is a picturesque and much-admired corner of
the ruin.
Not much can be said for the aspect of the new Castle, a building
erected in the eighteenth century. It is a museum of art and contains
many treasures by Rembrandt, Holbein, Velasquez, Vandyke and other
great masters and, most interesting of all, a portrait of Lady Blanche
Arundell, the defender of the Castle. She was a granddaughter of
Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, and so came of an heroic and kingly
line. Another famous relic is a wooden chalice made from the
Glastonbury Thorn, and the splendid (so-called) Westminster chasuble
is preserved in the chapel.
On the high road Swallowcliffe; Sutton Mandeville, with a partly
Norman church; Fovant, nearly opposite Chislebury Camp and with
another (restored) Norman church; and Compton Chamberlaine are passed,
all being a short distance off the road to the left, before it drops
for the last time into the valley of the Nadder. Near the last village
is Compton Park, the home of that Colonel Penruddocke who, in 1655,
led a small body of horsemen into Salisbury and proclaimed Charles II,
at the same time seizing the machinery of law and government. But the
"rising" was not popular; the Colonel got no assistance from the
townspeople and the affair led to his death upon the scaffold.
The most profitable way of approaching Salisbury is to continue
northwards from Ansty by a lane that eventually descends to Tisbury
on the headwaters of the Nadder. This small town has a station on the
South Western main line and a large cruciform church, situated at the
foot of the steep hill on which the town is built. Its present nave is
Early English, but an earlier Transitional building once stood on the
site. The tower is more curious than beautiful and the quaint top
story may be contemporary with the chancel, an addition of the early
seventeenth century. The latter has an elaborately ornamented ceiling
and is the resting place of Lady Blanche Arundell and also of Sir
Thomas, first Lord Wardour, who distinguished himself as a late
crusader in 1595 at the battle of Gran in Hungary, when he captured a
Turkish standard. His helmet is fixed to the wall above his tomb.
Place House, once a grange of Shaftesbury Abbey, at the end of the
village, is an early Tudor manor. The fine gate-house and the
tithe-barn at the side of the entrance court are good specimens of the
domestic architecture of the period. The buildings form a picturesque
group and the all too brief glimpse of them from the railway has
probably caused many travellers thereon to break their journey.
A short two miles to the north of Tisbury, in a lovely district of
wooded hills, is Fonthill Giffard. The church, erected in the Early
English style in 1866, will not detain the visitor, though one might
well be disposed to linger in the charming village. The great "lion"
of this district was the famous and extraordinary Fonthill Abbey, an
amazing erection in sham Gothic, built by Wyatt, that "infamous
dispoiler, misnamed architect" to the order of the eccentric author of
_Vathek_--William Beckford, heir of a wealthy London merchant who was
twice Lord Mayor and died a millionaire. Contemporary prints are
occasionally met with in curiosity shops that bring vividly before us
this specimen of the "Gothic madness" of our great grandfathers. An
enormous octagonal tower arises from the centre of the strange pile of
buildings, which is in the form of a cross with arms of equal length.
Pinnacle and gargoyles, moulding and ornaments, all clashing and at
war with each other, are stuck on anywhere and everywhere; the
nightmare dream of a medievalist. If this was the fruit of Beckford's
brain nothing more need be said. If that of Wyatt's, we can but be
thankful that he did not live long enough to have the commission for
building the present Palace of Westminster. A pile that as it is, is
only too reminiscent of the florid imaginings of the Gothic revival.
The expensive eccenticities of Beckford--he was a collector of
everything costly--brought about the sale of Fonthill and a retirement
to Bath. Not long after the new owner, a millionaire named Farquhar,
had entered into possession, the central tower fell and ruined most of
the "gingerbread" beneath. Perhaps the best thing Wyatt ever did was
his architectural work in the foundations of this sham "abbey."
The present Fonthill House has a small portion of Wyatt's building
incorporated with it. Half a mile away is the new Fonthill Abbey
(so-called). It was erected by the Marquis of Westminster in 1859 and
is in the Scottish Baronial style. The situation, overlooking a sheet
of water formed out of one of the feeders of the Nadder, is beautiful
in the extreme. To the north-west is Beckford's Tower--one of the many
he built (he is buried under one of them at Bath)--from which there is
a glorious view of the hills, woods and waters of this fair country
side. Hindon, about two miles north-west of Fonthill Giffard, is a
small town fallen from the ancient state that it held when it refused
Disraeli the honour of representing it in Parliament. Its pleasant
situation in the midst of the wooded hills that surround it on all
sides, the quiet old houses and dreamy main street beneath the shady
trees that were planted in honour of the marriage of Edward VII, make
its only claim on the notice of the passing tourist. Not far from
Hindon and about three miles from Fonthill Giffard is East Knoyle, the
birthplace of Sir Christopher Wren in 1632. He was a son of its
rector.
From Tisbury a road goes eastwards down the valley of the Nadder
through the small hamlet of Chicksgrove to Teffont Evias, or Ewyas,
the name of the former lords of the manor. This village is most
delightfully situated on high ground above the Nadder. The
sixteenth-century manor house, the rectory and the beautiful church,
are all of much interest. The church was built in the fifteenth
century and has a fine western tower and spire. The Ley Chapel
contains a number of monuments to that family, and the mosaics
representing the Angelic Choir over the east window strike an uncommon
note for a country church. Beyond Teffont Magna, where there is a very
small and ancient church, are the famous quarries which supplied some
of the stone for Salisbury Cathedral and were almost certainly worked
by the Romans. They are now roomy caverns, that, like Tilly Whim at
Swanage, have every appearance of being natural.
Continuing towards Salisbury, the first village passed through is
Dinton, the birthplace of Clarendon, historian of the Civil War. Then
comes Baverstock, with a restored Decorated church, and lastly, before
reaching Wilton, Barford St. Martin. Here is an Early English
cruciform church with one or two interesting features, including an
ancient effigy near the altar, in what appears to be a winding sheet.
The road through these villages, or rather tapping them--the first two
are slightly off the main route to the left--keeps to the north side
of the Nadder valley, at first under the wooded escarpment of the
Middle Hills where are the prehistoric remains of Hanging Langford
Camp, Churchend Ring and Bilbury Ring: and then under the great
expanse of Grovely Wood, which clothes the lonely hills dividing the
valleys of Wylye and Nadder, covered with evidences of an age so far
away that the Roman road from Old Sarum, traversing the summit of the
hills, is a work of yesterday by comparison.
Wilton is an exceedingly interesting place if one considers its
history. It took its name from the Wylye and gave it to the shire. It
was the ancient capital of the Wilsaetas and antedated Old Sarum as
the seat of their bishop. It only just missed being the first town of
the county when Bishop Poore preferred an entirely fresh site for his
new Cathedral after shaking the tainted dust of Old Sarum from off his
feet.
The position of the town, on the tongue of land between the two rivers
just above their meeting place, is ideal as a stronghold and an
imposing position in other ways, but the Wilton of to-day is small and
rather mean in its streets and houses and without any important
remains of its ancient past. Its history begins with the battle of
Ellandune between Mercia and Wessex, in which the victor--Egbert of
the West Saxon line--made good his claim to be overlord of England. It
was here that the greater West Saxon, Alfred, defeated the Danish
invaders, and here again Sweyn turned the tables and burnt and slew in
true pirate fashion. A house of Benedictine nuns was founded in Wilton
at an early date and was enlarged and re-endowed by Alfred. St. Edyth,
one of the nuns, was a daughter of King Eadgar and Wulftrude, who had
been a nun herself. When the Queen died Wulftrude refused to become
the King's consort, and eventually became Abbess of Wilton. The site
of the Abbey is now occupied by Wilton House.
[Illustration: WILTON HOUSE. HOLBEIN FRONT.]
According to Leland "the chaunging of this (Icknield) way was the
total course of the ruine of Old Sarisbyri and Wiltoun, for afore
Wiltoun had twelve paroche churches or more, and was the hedde town of
Wilshire." This refers to the new bridge built at Harnham to divert
the route to the south-west through the new city. Still, the collapse
was not utter and the position of the town was enough to save it from
total ruin. Cloth making and the wool trade generally persisted for
many years, and the making of carpets ("Wilton Pile") has persisted to
the present day, despite competition and some anxious years for the
manufacturers.
Of the few unimportant relics of the past may be mentioned the old
Town Cross that stands against the churchyard wall, and the chapel of
St. John in Ditchampton, part of a hospital founded in 1189 by Bishop
Hurbert of Sarum. St. Giles' Hospital, originally for lepers, was
founded by Adeliza, consort of Henry I, and rebuilt in 1624. Wilton
church is as unusual as it is imposing. It was built by Lord Herbert
of Lea while still the Hon. Sidney Herbert. Though the style seems out
of keeping with an ordinary English countryside there is something
about the high banks of foliage surrounding the town that gives the
Italian campanile an almost natural air. The church is in the
Lombardic style and the grand flight of steps, the triple porches and
beautiful cloisters connecting the tower with the main building, are
exceedingly fine. No less imposing is the ornate and costly interior.
In its wealth of marbles and mosaics it is almost without parallel in
England. The two handsome tombs of alabaster in the chancel are those
of Lord Herbert of Lea and his mother. Not the least interesting
feature of this unique church is the fine stained glass in the windows
of the apse, dating from the thirteenth century.
Wilton House stands in a beautiful park that comes almost up to the
doors of the town. The waters of the Nadder as they flow through the
glades have been broadened into a long lake-like expanse spanned by a
very beautiful Palladian bridge. This is the home of the Earls of
Pembroke and Montgomery. Their ancestors were an ancient Welsh family
and great friends of their compatriots, the Tudor sovereigns. Here, as
constant and welcome guests, came Ben Jonson, Edmund Spencer and
Philip Massinger, who was a son of one of the Earl's servants. Here
_As You Like It_ is said to have been played before James I, with
Shakespeare himself as one of the company. Gloriana was a visitor in
1573 and attempted to flirt with Sir Philip Sidney, brother-in-law of
the host, presenting him with one of her auburn locks. Here Sir Philip
wrote a good part of the _Arcadia_. It will be seen that Wilton was a
home for all who had the divine fire within them. Gentle George
Herbert, a relative and esteemed friend, could often come from near-by
Bemerton, and Izaak Walton, who was here collecting material for the
"Life" of his hero, no doubt spent some happy days in contemplation of
the clear waters of the Nadder. Charles I was another visitor, and by
him certain suggestions are said to have been made for some of the
alterations and additions of the seventeenth century. The original
building which followed the dismantled Abbey was designed by Holbein,
but this has almost disappeared except for the central portion over
the gateway. Wyatt was allowed to stick some of his sham Gothic
enormities over the older work about the time he was designing
Fonthill, but an era of better taste soon got rid of these and the
present fronts are Italian in style and very lordly and imposing. The
great hall contains the Vandyck portraits for which Wilton is
preeminently famous, but there are other great masters, including
Rubens, Titian and del Sarto to be seen by those interested, besides a
collection of armour hardly to be surpassed in the country. These
treasures are shown at certain times.
[Illustration: BEMERTON CHURCH.]
Although a pleasant and retired little place, Bemerton would not be of
much interest were it not for its associations with the "singer of
surpassing sweetness," the author of _The Temple_. George Herbert
became rector here in 1630 and died two years later, aged 42. He lies
within the altar rails of the church and the tablet above is simply
inscribed G.H., 1633. The lines on the Parsonage wall and written by
the parson-poet were originally above the chimney inside. They run
thus:--
"If thou chance for to find
A new house to thy mind,
And built without any cost,
Be good to the poor
As God gives thee store
And then thy labour's not lost."
In the garden that slopes down to the river there was quite recently,
and may be still, an old and gnarled medlar planted by Herbert. The
well-known painting "George Herbert at Bemerton" by W. Dyce, R.A., in
the Guildhall Art Gallery, gives an excellent picture of the calm
grace of the surroundings and of the heavenly spire of the Cathedral
soaring up into the skies a mile away. The fine new memorial church at
Bemerton is used for the regular Sunday services and Herbert's little
old church for worship on weekdays. It is pleasant to think that the
bells which sound so sweetly across the meadows, as we take the
footpath way to Salisbury, are those that were rung by Herbert when he
first entered his church.
The City of Salisbury, or officially, New Sarum, is a regularly built,
spacious and clean county capital that would be of interest and
attraction if there were no glorious cathedral to grace and adorn it.
As a matter of fact, cathedral towns away from the immediate precincts
suffer from the overshadowing character of the great churches, that
take most of the honour and glory to themselves. This is, of course
but right, and the discerning traveller will keep the even balance
between the human interest of court and alley and market place and the
awed reverence that must be felt by the most materialistic of us when
we come within the immediate influence of these solemn sanctuaries, of
which Salisbury is the most perfect in the land.
[Illustration: OLD SARUM.]
It is impossible to give the merest outline of the history of
Salisbury without first referring to that of Old Sarum, or
Sorbiodunum, two miles to the north. The huge mound on the edge of the
Plain was doubtless a prehistoric fortress, though of a much simpler
form than the three-terraced enclosure of twenty-seven acres that we
see there to-day. In Roman times the importance of this advanced
outpost of chalk, commanding the approach to the lower valley of the
Avon, would be appreciated. But it would appear from recent
investigations that little was done to elaborate the defences.
Nevertheless Sorbiodunum was an important Roman town and stood on the
junction of two great thoroughfares--the Icknield Way and the Port
Way. The recent excavations, interfered with to a large extent by the
late war, have been so disappointing in the lack of Roman relics that
a suggestion has been made by Sir W.H. St. John Hope that the true
site of the Roman town may have been at Stratford, just below the
mound to the north-west. It is possible that further excavations will
settle the question.
After the Saxon invasion, Sarobyrig, as it was then called, probably
assumed its present outline so far as the foundation of the walls are
concerned. That a mint of Canute (who according to one tradition, died
here and not at Shaftesbury) and again of Edward Confessor was set up,
and that the town became the seat of the Bishop of Sherborne, was a
proof of its established importance. The smaller central mound of the
citadel itself would appear to have been a work of the Normans, who
divided the space occupied within the outer defences into two parts;
that on the east belonging to the military works, and the western half
pertaining to the Bishop and having within it the original Salisbury
Cathedral. Here was instituted by Bishop Osmund the new English ritual
or "use of Sarum," and here commenced those endless squabbles between
clergy and soldiers that at last resulted in the men of peace leaving
the fortress city.
("Quid Domini Domus in Castro, nisi foederis arca
In Tempho Baalim? Carcer uterque locus,
Est ibi defectus aquae, sed copia cretae,
Saevit ibi ventus, sed philomela silet.")
The commission to inquire into the proposed change was appointed by the
Pope in 1217, and from this year begins the rapid decay of Old Sarum.
The Cathedral was dismantled and much of the material was used in the
new structure in the plain. That the original was a noble building
existing records and ultimate discoveries amply prove. The ground plan
was well seen in the dry summer of 1834, when measurements were taken
and the total length found to be 270 feet. The first church was
seriously damaged by a thunderbolt five days after its consecration,
and the original plan was much elaborated in the rebuilding--
"So gret lytnynge was the vyfte yer, so that al to nogt
The rof of the chyrch of Salesbury it broute,
Ryght evene vyfte day that he yhalwed was."
(Robert of Gloucester.)
Of the castle not so much is known. Leland says in 1540:--"Ther was a
right fair and strong castella within _Old-Saresbyri_ longing to the
Erles of Saresbyri especially the Longerpees. I read that one
Gualterus was the first Erle after the conquest of it. Much ruinus
building of this castelle yet ther remayneth. The dich that environed
the old town was a very deepe and strong Thynge," and again
"_Osmunde_, erle of _Dorchestre_, and after Bishop of Saresbyri,
erected his Cathedrale church ther in the west part of the town; and
also his palace; whereof now no token is but only a chapel of Our Lady
yet standing and mainteynid.... Ther was a paroch of the Holy Rode
beside in _Old-Saresbyri_ and another over the est gate Whereof some
tokens remayne. I do not perceyve that there are any mo gates in
Old-Saresbyri than 2; one by est and another by west. Without eche of
these gates was a fair suburbe. On the est suburbe was a paroche
church of S. John; and ther yet is a chapel standing. The river is a
good quarter of a myle from Old-Saresbyri and more, where it is nerest
on to it, and that is at Stratford village south from it. Ther hath
bene houses in tyme of mind inhabited in the est suburbe of
Old-Saresbyri; but now there is not one house neither within
Old-Saresbyri nor without it inhabited."
It will be seen that in comparison with other English towns Salisbury
is not old. Like several others its foundations were entirely
ecclesiastical, for as soon as the builders of the new Cathedral
started upon their work the civil population of Old Sarum migrated to
the water meadows with as little delay as possible, and the Bishop's
architects planned for them a town with regular streets and square
blocks of dwellings all much of a size, a characteristic that will
strike the most unobservant traveller and which differentiates this
from most other English towns in a marked degree.
[Illustration: SALISBURY MARKET PLACE.]
From whichever side Salisbury has been entered; by either of the great
roads; or by the railway that, from the east, makes a long tour of the
north side of the town in kindly purpose, it would seem, to give the
passer-by a good view--there rises before him the glorious spire that,
whatever the boast of uniformity of style or perfection of design,
really gives the exterior of the building its unique beauty and
without which it would be cold and dull. To the Cathedral then, as its
spire is calling so insistently, the stranger must inevitably make his
way before troubling about anything else in the town. Our approach
happens to coincide with that of the traveller who arrives by rail,
and down Fisherton Street, an unusually winding thoroughfare for
Salisbury, over the Avon bridge and through the High Street Gate we
enter the most beautiful of those abodes of beauty--the English
cathedral closes. The guide books advise the tourist to make the first
approach by way of St. Anne's Gate, when the gradual unfolding of the
north front of the building makes a perfect introduction to the
Cathedral, but so does that of the sudden view of the whole, with the
tower and spire as an exquisite centre, as we leave the row of
well-ordered houses, mixed with a few quiet shops, that line the
approach from High Street to the north-west angle of the Close. A
pleasing presentment of Edward VII now looks down this old by-street
from the High Street Gate and is Salisbury's tribute to that lover of
peace. The Close is bordered by beautiful old houses, some quite noble
in their proportions, but likely to be overlooked by all but the most
leisured visitor. It is so difficult to look at anything but the tower
and spire, and it is best to forget that another tower, a campanile,
similar to that at Chichester, once stood on this greensward, to be
wantonly destroyed by James Wyatt. This is said to have been
garrisoned by the Parliamentary army during the Civil War. The
Deanery, opposite the west door, is a quaintly charming building and
the gabled King's House is said to date from the fourteenth century.
No incongruous note ever seems to mar the serenity of the great green
square. The passers-by all apparently fit their environment;
schoolgirls in their teens, fresh faced and happy; clergy of the
Chapter, true type of the modern intellectual priest; an occasional
workman employed about the Cathedral, upon whom its impress has
visibly descended; quaint imps in Elizabethan ruffles playing a
seemingly sedate game upon the lawn while their companions are singing
in the choir; the ordinary sightseers who, apart from bank holidays,
always seem to arrive at the same times and in the same twos and
threes, and put on, as do the inevitable butchers' and bakers' youths,
a cloak of decorous quiet when they enter the guardian gateways.
[Illustration: HIGH STREET GATE.]
The Cathedral was commenced in 1220 by Bishop Poore and took about
forty years to build, but this period did not include the erection of
the tower and spire which were later additions. The fine and generally
admired west front is, from an architect's point of view, the only
part of the exterior that is not admirable. It is in actual fact,
fraudulent, just as the whole of the upper wall of St. Paul's
Cathedral is an artistic untruth. The west wall of Salisbury is a
screen without professing to be one. The porches are very small in
relation to the great flattish expanse of masonry above them; the
dullness of this was much relieved by the series of statues placed in
the empty niches about the middle of the last century. The original
medieval figures almost all disappeared through the zeal of the
Puritans.
Even the most careless glance down the long outline of the walls,
artistically broken by the two transepts, but never losing the regular
continuity of design, will show the observer that this perfect Early
English building was an inspiration of one brain and that the many
hands that worked for that brain carried out their tasks as a
religious rite. The glory of the tower as we see it was not part of
the original plan, though that undoubtedly included some such crown
and consummation of the noble work beneath. But although the tower and
spire are of a later period--the Decorated, they blend so
harmoniously with the earlier building that all might have arisen in
one twelve months instead of being labours spread over one hundred
years. The rash courage which raised this great pyramid of stone, four
hundred and four feet above the sward, on the slender columns and
walls that have actually bowed under the great weight they uphold, has
often been commented upon. It has been said that the tower would have
fallen long ago had it not been for the original scaffolding that
remains within to tie and strengthen it. In the eighteenth century a
leaden casket was discovered by some workmen high in the spire,
containing a relic of our Lady, to whom the Cathedral is dedicated. In
the summer of 1921 the steeplejacks employed to test the lightning
conductor found that the iron cramps had rusted to such an extent as
to split the stonework. A band of iron within the base of the spire in
process of rusting is said to have raised the great mass of stone
fully half an inch. The iron is now being replaced by gun-metal.
The great church is entered by the north porch, and the immediate
effect of august beauty is not at first tempered by the impression of
coldness that gradually makes itself felt as we compare, from memory,
the interior with that of Winchester or even some of the less
important churches we have visited. But this is perhaps only a
temporary fault, and when the windows of the nave are rejewelled with
the glorious colours that shone from them before the Reformation, the
cold austerity of this part of the great church will largely
disappear. The extreme _orderliness_ of the architectural conception,
the numberless columns and arches ranged in stately rows, vanishing in
almost unbroken perspective, make Salisbury unique among English
cathedral interiors. An old rhyme gives the building as many pillars,
windows, and doors as there are hours, days, and months in the year.
In addition to his other questionable traits, James Wyatt must have
had something of the Prussian drill-sergeant in his nature. Under his
"restoration" scheme the tombs of bishops and knights that once gave a
picturesque confusion to the spaces of the nave were marshalled into
precise and regular order in two long lines between the columns on
each side. For congregational purposes this was and is an advantage,
but Wyatt actually lost one of his subjects in the drilling process
and so confused the remainder that the historical sequence is lost.
[Illustration: PLAN OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.]
It is not proposed to describe these tombs in detail. A glance at the
sketch plan on the preceding page will make the position of each quite
clear. Especially notice should be given to (10) William Longespee,
1st Earl of Salisbury; (14) Robert, Lord Hungerford; (13) Lord Charles
Stourton, who was hanged in Salisbury Market Place with a silken
halter for instigating the murder of two men named Hartgill, father
and son. A wire noose representing the rope used to hang above the
tomb. (3) The reputed tomb of a "Boy Bishop," but possibly this is
really a bishop's "heart shrine." Salisbury seems to have been in an
especial sense the home of the singular custom of electing a small lad
as bishop during the festival of Christmas. According to Canon
Fletcher in his pleasant little book on the subject lately published,
no less than twenty-one names are known of Boy Bishops who played the
part in this cathedral. Several modern memorials of much interest upon
the walls of the nave explain themselves. One, to the left of the
north porch as we enter, is to Edward Wyndham Tempest, youthful poet
and "happy warrior" who was killed in the late war. Another will
remind us that Richard Jefferies, although buried at Broadwater in
Sussex, was the son of a North Wilts yeoman and a native of the shire.
The arches at the western transepts will be found to differ from those
of the nave; they were inserted to support the weight of the tower by
Bishop Wayte in 1415 and are similar to those at Canterbury and Wells.
A brass plate was placed in the pavement during the eighteenth century
to mark the inclination of the tower, 22-1/2 inches to the south-west.
It is said that the deflection has not altered appreciably for nearly
two hundred years. The exactness of the correspondence of the
architecture in the transepts to that of the nave almost comes as a
surprise by reason of its rarity to those who are acquainted with
other English cathedrals, and brings before one very vividly the
homogeneity of the design. A number of interesting monuments, several
of them modern, occupy the two arms of the transepts. The choir
roof-painting, sadly marred by Wyatt, has been restored to something
of its former beauty, but it would seem that time alone can give the
right tone to mural decoration in churches, for there is now an effect
of harshness, especially farther east in the so-called Lady Chapel,
that is not at all pleasing. The screen of brass leading to the choir,
the greater part of the stalls, and the high altar and reredos, are
seen to be modern. The altar occupies its old position and was
restored as a memorial to Bishop Beauchamp (1482). The Bishop's
chantry was destroyed by Wyatt, who had shifted the altar to the
extreme end of the Lady Chapel, if we may use the name usually given
to the eastern extension of the Cathedral, but as the dedication of
the whole building is to the Virgin, that part may have been called
originally the Jesus, or Trinity Chapel. On the north side of the
choir is the late Gothic chantry of Bishop Audley and opposite is that
of the Hungerfords, the upper part of iron-work. On the north side of
the altar is the effigy of Bishop Poore, founder of the Cathedral; the
modern one under a canopy is that of one of his late successors,
Bishop Hamilton.
[Illustration: GATE, SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]
The choir transepts are now reached. That on the north side, with its
inverted arch, contains, among others, the tomb of Bishop Jewel (died
1571) who despoiled the nave windows of their colour. He was the first
post-Reformation Bishop of Salisbury. Just within the entrance is the
interesting brass of Bishop Wyville, builder of the spire. It records
the recovery, through trial by combat, of Sherborne Castle for the
church. The slab of the Saint-Bishop Osmund's tomb (1099), one of
those wantonly interfered with by Wyatt and a relic of the Cathedral
of Old Sarum, has been brought from the nave to its present position
near the end of the north choir aisle and not far from its former
magnificent shrine. The chief beauty of the Lady Chapel consists in
the slender shafts of Purbeck marble that support the roof. The
tryptych altarpiece is modern, also the east window in memory of Dean
Lear. Opinion will be divided as to the merit of the roof decoration,
but time will lend its aid in the colour scheme. In this connexion may
be mentioned the means taken here as elsewhere to remove the curious
"bloom," that comes in the course of a generation or two, upon the
Purbeck marble columns. They are oiled!
Attention is again called to the sketch plan for the tombs hereabouts,
and in the south choir aisle, where especial notice should be taken of
the canopied tomb of Bishop Giles de Bridport. The muniment room,
reached from the south-east transept, contains a contemporary copy of
Magna Carta, besides many other interesting manuscripts and treasures.
The Cathedral Library is above the cloisters. Its collection of
manuscripts is magnificent, some dating as far back as the ninth
century. The windows in the cloisters are of very fine design, and
some fragments of old glass in the upper portions show that they were
once glazed. The original shafts of Purbeck marble had so decayed by
the middle of the last century that it was decided to replace them
with a more durable stone. Very beautiful is the octagonal chapter
house, entered from the east walk. The bas-reliefs below the windows
and above the seats for the clergy are of great interest. The
sculptures in the arch of the doorway should also be particularly
noticed. From a door in the cloisters there is a charming view of the
Bishop's Palace and the beautiful gardens that surround it.
An enjoyable stroll can be taken southwards to the Harnham Gate and
the banks of the Avon, and a return made by the old Hospital of St.
Nicholas, founded in 1227 by a Countess of Salisbury, and then by
Exeter Street to St. Ann's Gate at the east side of the close.
Fielding, whose grandfather was a canon of the Cathedral, is said to
have lived in a house on the south side of the gate. Dickens was
acquainted with Salisbury, but not until after he had made it the
scene of Tom Pinch's remarkable characterization--"a very desperate
sort of place; an exceedingly wild and dissipated city." It must not
be forgotten that Salisbury is the "Melchester" of the Wessex Novels
and that Trollope made the city the original of "Barchester."
[Illustration: THE POULTRY CROSS, SALISBURY.]
Continuing northwards, a wide turning on the left is termed The
"Canal." This takes us back to that time when the citizens' chief
concern was probably that of drainage, not of the domestic sort--that
did not worry them--but the draining of the water-meadows upon which
they had built their homes. About thirty years ago an elaborate scheme
for the relief of the city from this natural dampness was successfully
carried out. In this wide and usually bustling street the first house
on the right is the Council Chamber, and on the other side of the way
is the fine hall of John Halle, now a business house. The interior
should be seen for the sake of the carved oak screen at the farther
end of the banqueting room and the great stone fireplace. The
beautiful ceiling is also much admired. This was the home of a rich
wool merchant of the town, who built it about 1470. Although it has
passed through many hands and has seen many vicissitudes it has always
been known by his name. A turn to the right at the end of this street
will bring the explorer to the old Poultry Cross. The square pillar
surmounted by sundial and ball which for years supplanted the original
finial has in turn been replaced by a new canopy and cross. The
original erection has been variously ascribed to two individuals,
Lawrence de St. Martin and John de Montacute Earl of Salisbury, in
each case for the same reason, namely, as a penance for "having
carried home the Sacrament bread and eaten it for his supper," for
which he was "condemned to set up a cross in Salisbury market place
and come every Saturday of his life in shirt and breeches and there
confess his fault publickly." Not far away is the church of St. Thomas
of Canterbury, the only really interesting ecclesiastical building in
the city apart from the Cathedral. It is a very beautiful specimen of
Perpendicular and replaced a thirteenth-century church founded by
Bishop Bingham. The painting of the Last Judgment over the chancel
arch was covered with whitewash at the Reformation and the Tudor arms
were placed in front of it. About forty years ago this disfigurement
to the church was removed and the picture brought once more into the
light of day. The old font would seem to have originally belonged to
another church, as its style antedates the foundation (1220) of St.
Thomas' church. A few fragments of old stained glass remain in the
east window and in that of the Godmanstone aisle, in which aisle is an
altar tomb of one of the members of that family. Of the other churches
St. Martin's, in the south-eastern part of the city not far from the
Southampton road, is the oldest, and has an Early English chancel. St.
Edmund's, originally collegiate, was founded in 1268; it has been
almost entirely rebuilt. The Church House, near Crane Bridge, is a
Perpendicular structure, once the private house of a leading citizen
and cloth merchant named Webb. Other fine old houses are the Joiners'
Hall in St. Anne's Street and Tailors' Hall off Milford Street. The
George Inn in High Street has been restored, but its interior is very
much the same as in the early seventeenth century and part of the
structure must be nearly three hundred years older. It will be
remembered that Pepys stayed here and records that he slept in a silk
bed, had "a very good diet," but was "mad" at the exorbitant charges.
He was much impressed with the "Minster" and gave the "guide to the
Stones" (Stonehenge) two shillings. In 1623 a pronouncement was made
that all theatrical companies should give their plays at the "George."
Cromwell stayed at the inn in 1645. Salisbury seems to have been
fairly indifferent to the cut of her master's coat; Royalist and
Republican were equally welcome if they came in peace. Only one fight
is worth mentioning during the whole course of the Civil War--in which
the city was held by each party in turn--and that was the tussle in
the Close, along High Street, and in the Market Place, when Ludlow,
with only a few horsemen, held his own against overwhelming odds. The
"Catherine Wheel" long boasted a legend of a meeting of Royalists
during the Commonwealth, at which, the toast of the King having been
drunk, one of the company then proposed the health of the Devil, who
promptly appeared and amid much smoke and blue fire flew away with his
proposer out of the window. This story rather hints at a republican
spirit on the part of the townspeople. That was certainly manifested
when Colonel Penruddocke led his "forlorn hope" into the city and,
long before, when the Jack Cade rebellion gained a great number of
adherents in Salisbury.
The city had a number of these fine old inns, famous centuries before
the great days of the Exeter road. Nearly all have disappeared, but
the "White Hart" in John Street is little altered and the "Haunch of
Venison" is said to be the oldest house in the city.
In our peregrinations of the streets we have passed two statues
neither of great merit but each perpetuating the memory of men of more
than local fame. The bronze figure in front of the Council House is
that of Lord Herbert of Lea, better known perhaps as Sydney Herbert,
Minister during the Crimean War. The other is a very different manner
of man--Henry Fawcett. The memorial of the blind Postmaster-General
and great political economist stands in Queen Street, close to his
birthplace. The Blackmore and Salisbury Museums are in St. Anne's
Street. Both are most interesting; the first named has an important
collection of Palaeolithic and Neolithic remains.
The history of Salisbury, happily for the citizens, has not been very
stirring, apart from the few incidents already briefly mentioned.
Executions in the Market Place seem to have had an unenviable
notoriety. The most dramatic of these was the beheading of the Duke of
Buckingham in 1484. A headless skeleton dug up in 1835 during
alterations to the "Saracen's Head," formerly the "Blue Boar," was
popularly supposed to be his, though records appear to show that his
corpse was in fact taken to the Greyfriars' Monastery in London. In
Queen Mary's time there was a burning of heretics in the space devoted
to violent death, a space which afterwards saw many others as
needlessly cruel. One is extraordinary in its details. A prisoner
sentenced to the lock-up lost control of himself--possibly he was
innocent--and threw a stone at the judge. He was at once sentenced to
death and removed to the Market Place, his right hand being cut off
before he was hanged. As lately as 1835 two men here suffered the
extreme penalty for arson. To the hanging of Lord Stourton, a just and
well-merited punishment, reference has already been made. But perhaps
the most vindictive execution of all was that of a boy of fifteen in
1632 when Charles I was in the town. The lad was hanged, drawn and
quartered for saying he would buy a pistol to kill the King.
Royal visits have been many. Henry III probably came here when he
granted the charter of New Sarum. When Henry VI visited the city the
inhabitants were ordered to wear red gowns, possibly a piece of sharp
practice on the part of the city fathers, who were nearly all
clothiers or cloth-merchants. Richard III was here at the time of
Buckingham's execution, and Elizabeth under happier circumstances, in
1574, when she was presented by the Corporation with a slight
honorarium of twenty pounds and a gold cup, but James I, who was here
several times on his way to the stag hunting in Cranborne Chase only
obtained a silver cup. Unlike his predecessor, however, he possessed a
consort and the royal pair were presented with twenty pounds each.
James' unfortunate son held here one of those unsuccessful councils of
war that seemed always to turn events in favour of the enemy. The
second Charles came twice in a hurry. The first time was after the
battle of Worcester on his flight to the coast, and again he came for
sanctuary with his whole court when the plague was ravaging the
capital. He was almost the only traveller from London or the east that
the authorities would allow, during that dreadful time, within the
city boundaries; even natives returning home were obliged to stay
outside in quarantine for three months. James II lodged at the
Bishop's Palace on his way to intercept the Prince of Orange, and
here, a month later, William III stayed in his turn while the previous
guest fled the country. It is said that on the day James arrived in
Salisbury an ornamental crown on the facade of the Council House fell
down.
[Illustration: LONGFORD CASTLE.]
Several delightful excursions can be taken in each direction from
Salisbury. Southwards one may proceed along the Avon valley by the
Fordingbridge road to Britford, passing East Harnham, where the fine
modern church is a memorial to Dean Lear. Britford church is of the
greatest interest to archaeologists, for within it are three arches
which have been claimed variously as Saxon and Roman work. The
remainder of the building is of the Decorated period. An altar tomb
was at one time supposed to contain the body of the executed Duke of
Buckingham. Longford Castle, the seat of the Earl of Radnor, is just
over a mile to the south. The magnificent park extends along the banks
of the Avon in scenery of much quiet beauty. The castle, although much
altered, dates from 1590, and contains a famous collection of
paintings and is especially rich in Holbein's works. Perhaps the most
celebrated of the many treasures housed at Longford is the "Imperial
Steel Chair," once the property of the emperor Rudulf II. It is one of
the most elaborate specimens of metal work in England. Rather more
than a mile west of Longford is the Early English church at Odstock.
It has a fine west tower and several points of interest. The pulpit
dated 1580 bears the following couplet:
"God bless and save our Royal Queen
The lyke on Earth was never seen."
The churchyard contains the grave of one Joseph Scamp, executed for a
crime to which he pleaded guilty; but really committed by his
son-in-law.
The route is now by a lane that follows the course of the river
through Charlton, with Clearbury Camp a mile away to the right, and on
to Downton where we cross the bridge to the large and interesting
cruciform church built at many different periods. The Transitional
nave becomes Early English at the east end and the transepts are made
up of Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular work. The chancel is
entirely of the last-named style and very fine in its proportions and
details. The Norman font of Purbeck marble should also be noticed. The
village was one of the old-time "rotten" boroughs and returned two
members to Parliament. Southey was once elected but declined the
honour. Downton was evidently of some importance in still earlier
days, for on the outskirts of the village, in private grounds, is an
earthwork used in Saxon times as a folk-mote, or open-air local
parliament. It is probable that this was originally a British fort,
for about a mile away is the ancient ford over the Avon where a great
battle was fought in the days of the West Saxon invasion and in which
the attackers were held. Thirty-seven years elapsed before any further
advance was made into Wiltshire. Downton is also one of the places of
which that curious myth story "The Pent Cuckoo" is told.
The road to the south can be followed down the river to Fordingbridge
(_see_ Chapter II), but it is proposed to return by the east bank of
the river past Burford Park and Trafalgar, the renamed Standlynch
Manor, bestowed on Earl Nelson in 1814, to the neighbourhood of
Alderbury, over three miles out of Salisbury on the Southampton road.
The scenery of this part of the Christchurch Avon is very pleasant in
a quiet way, the wide views towards the chalk hills on each side and
the distant spire of the Cathedral, visible from every point of
vantage, make the walk especially enjoyable. Alderbury is said to be
the original village of the "Blue Dragon" of Mrs. Lupin and Mark
Tapley, immortalized by Charles Dickens, though some claim Amesbury to
be the original of this scene. It is difficult to say that any
particular village could be in the novelist's mind if, as seems
probable, he had not seen Wiltshire when _Martin Chuzzlewit_ was
written. St. Mary's Grange, on the Salisbury road, is suggested as the
original of Mr. Pecksniff's residence. Alderbury House was built from
the demolished campanile of Salisbury Cathedral.
To obtain a really good idea of the hill country, apart from that of
the Plain, a walk should be taken, by those who are impervious to
fatigue, to Broad Chalke, about seven miles from East Harnham, or even
farther to Berwick St. John, more than six miles higher up the stream.
The river Ebble itself, if river it can be called, is rarely in
evidence, but the valley it drains is beautiful and, though it
contains quite a string of villages, is so remote as to be seldom
visited by anyone not on business bent. The vale seems to end
naturally at Coombe Bisset, though the river flows on through
Honnington and Odstock for four miles farther before it reaches the
Avon. The church, set picturesquely on its hill at Coombe, is an old
Transitional Norman building with some later additions. The village in
the hollow below appeals to one as a happy place in which to end one's
days. So also appears Stratford Tony, farther up the vale, where, as
its name suggests, the Roman road from Old Sarum to Blandford once cut
across the valley in the usual Roman manner. Bishopstone, the next
village, has a very fine cruciform church, most interesting in its
general details. The patron of the living was the Bishop of
Winchester; thus the village gets its name. It is possible that some
of the bishops took special interest in the building and that would
account for its elaboration. The style is Decorated passing into
Perpendicular in the nave. The chancel and transepts are peculiarly
fine and the vaulting of the first-named will be much admired, as also
the beautiful windows. The south door of the chancel with its handsome
porch and groined roof; the vaulted chamber, or so-called cloister,
outside the south transept, the use of which is unknown; the recessed
tomb in the north transept and the grand arch on the same side of the
church; all call for especial notice.
The right-hand road at Stoke Farthing leads direct to Broad Chalke, or
a longer by-way on the other side of the stream takes us to the same
goal by way of Bury Orchard, a village as delectable as its name.
Chalke likewise boasts of a fine church, also cruciform and dating, so
far as the chancel and north transept are concerned, from the
thirteenth century. In that transept the old wooden roof still
remains. The nave is Perpendicular, solid and plain; the roof quite
modern, though the corbels that supported the old one, carved with
representations of angels singing and playing, were not disturbed. The
sedilia in the chancel and the aumbry in the north transept should be
seen. The lych-gate was erected to the memory of Rowland Williams of
_Essays and Reviews_ fame. John Aubrey, antiquary and nature lover,
who was a native of Easton Pierce in North Wilts, was a resident here
for a long time, and a modern literary association is found in the
fact that the Old Rectory has been the home of Mr. Maurice Hewlett for
some years.
The hills now begin to close in upon the road and another valley
penetrates into the highlands which form the northern portion of
Cranborne Chase. In this vale, in a lovely hollow between the rounded
hills, is the small village of Bower Chalke. Westwards, up the main
valley, we pass through Fifield Bavant, where the church is one of the
many that claim to be the smallest in England. Ebbesborne Wake, the
next hamlet, lies cramped in a narrow gully between Barrow Hill and
Prescombe Down. The restored church is not of great interest, but an
unnamed tomb within bears these very pertinent lines:
AS THOU DOST LYVE, O READER DERE,
SO DYD I ONCE WHICH NOW LYE HEARE;
AND AS I AM SO SHALT THOU BE
FOR ALL IS FRAYLE AS THOU MAYST SEE.
Alvedeston, the last village actually in the valley, lies under a spur
of Middle Down from which there is a magnificent view of the "far
flung field of gold and purple--regal England." Alvedeston church is
an old cruciform building containing the tomb of a knight in full
armour. This is one of the Gawen family. The Gawens were for many
years lords of Norrington, a beautiful old house near by. Aubrey
suggests that they were descended from that Gawain of the Round Table
who fought Lancelot and was killed. The last village, Berwick St.
John, is high upon the hills and close to Winklebury Camp. Its Early
English church, as is usual in this district, has transepts. The
Perpendicular tower, though rather squat, is of fine design and the
interior has several interesting monuments and effigies, including
effigies of Sir John Hussey and Sir Robert Lucie clad in mail. A
pleasant custom obtains here of ringing a bell every night during the
winter to guide home the wanderer upon the lonely hills. This was
provided for in the will of a former rector--John Gane (1735). From
Berwick the hill walk to Salisbury, spoken of in the earlier part of
this chapter, should be taken.
[Illustration: DOWNTON CROSS.]
Another valley worth exploring is that of the Bourne, north-east of
Salisbury, down which the main railway line from London passes for its
last few miles before reaching the city. The Bourne is crossed by the
London road nearly two miles from the centre of the town. About half a
mile up stream is the ford where the old way crossed the river to
Sarum. The London road rises to the right and traverses the lonely
chalk uplands to the Winterslow Hut, lately known as the "Pheasant," a
reversion to its old name. Here lodged Hazlitt, essayist and recluse,
for a period of nine years, and here several of his best known
dissertations were penned, including the appropriate "On Living to
One's Self." Charles Lamb, accompanied by his sister, visited him
here. We, however, do not propose to travel by the great London
highway, but to turn to the left just across St. Thomas' Bridge, and
soon after passing the railway we cross the old Roman road where it
appears as a narrow track making direct for the truncated cone of Old
Sarum away to the west across the valley. Figsbury Rings is the name
of the camp-crowned summit to the east of our road. The first three
villages are all "Winterbournes "--Earls, Dauntsey and Gunner. The
first two have rebuilt churches, but the third--Gunner--has a
Transitional building of some interest. The name is a corruption of
Gunnora, spouse of one of the Delameres who were lords hereabouts in
the early thirteenth century. Farther on, Porton will not detain us
very long, but Idmiston has a church that is a fine example of the
style so well called Decorated. The tower, indeed, is Norman, but the
clustered columns of the nave with their carved capitals and bases are
beautiful specimens of fourteenth-century architecture. The Early
English chancel has a triple east window and side lancets. The
two-storied porch is late Decorated or early Perpendicular. A tomb of
Giles Rowbach and tablets to the Bowie family are of interest. One of
the Bowles, a vicar of the church, was a notable Spanish scholar and
made a translation of _Don Quixote_. Boscombe Rectory was once
occupied by "the judicious" Hooker and the first part of the
_Ecclesiastical Polity_ was written here. Another theologian--Nicholas
Fuller--famous in his day, held the living of the next village--Allington.
At Newton Tony, over eight miles from Salisbury, the pleasant scenery
of the Bourne may be said to end. Beyond, we reach an outlying part of
the Plain that is seen to better advantage from other directions.
Newton Tony has a station on the branch line to Amesbury and Bulford
Camp. Wilbury House, on the road to Cholderton, was erected in the
Italian style in the early seventeenth century by the Bensons, a noted
family in those days, one of whose members is commemorated by a brass
in the church. The house was the home of the late Mr. T. Gibson Bowles,
formerly the member for King's Lynn.
[Illustration: LUDGERSHALL CHURCH.]
The valley goes on to Cholderton, Shipton Bellinger and Tidworth,
where are situated the head-quarters of the Southern Military Command.
The Collingbournes--Ducis and Kingston--are much farther on, right at
the head of the valley, and eighteen miles from Salisbury. If the
explorer has penetrated as far as Tidworth a train can be taken three
miles across the Down to Ludgershall, a very ancient place near the
Hampshire border. It would seem to have been of some importance in
earlier days. "The castell stoode in a parke now clene doun. There is
of late times a pratie lodge made by the ruines of it and longgethe to
the king" (Leland). To this castle came the Empress Maud and not far
away the seal of her champion, Milo of Hereford, was found some years
since. All that is left to show that Leland's "clene doun" was a
slight exaggeration is a portion of the wall of the keep built into a
farm at the farther end of the little town. The twelfth-century church
is interesting. Here may be seen the effigy of Sir Richard Brydges,
the first owner of the Manor House (or "pratie lodge") which succeeded
the castle. The picturesque appearance of the main street is enhanced
by the old Market Cross which bears carved representations of the
Crucifixion and other scenes from the New Testament.
[Illustration: STONEHENGE.]