’Twas from hence with a friend, an equal admirer of Nature’s landscapes,
and attached to pedestrian independence, that they agreed to visit the
wild and impressive scenery of the Cambrian mountains. The outlines of
their route being arranged, they sallied forth in the month of July from
this place so much resorted to, and celebrated for its mineral waters.
Since it has become a place of fashion, the lodging-houses have been
considerably improved, and rendered comfortable for the company, who make
this place their residence. The season usually commences about May, and
frequently continues till the beginning of November. The majority of the
company who frequent Cheltenham resort here not so much for the purpose
of water-drinking, as to enjoy the delightful walks and rides, and
partake of the sociability of the neighbourhood.
The Walk at the Pump-room, well planned, and kept in excellent order, is
planted on each side with limes; at the end is a small square, where the
pump is situate, with a room on the left for the accommodation of the
company to promenade, measuring sixty-six feet by twenty-three: on the
opposite side a reading-room, with a billiard-table over: and a house,
the residence of the attendant at the Spa: beyond that is a similar walk
which leads to another serpentine walk; from the end of this, the spire
of Cheltenham church forms a beautiful object. Near these walks stands,
on an eminence, the seat of the Earl of Fauconberg; which was the royal
residence during their Majesties’ stay from July 12 to August 16, 1788.
In respect to the Rides, Cleave Hill, Dowdeswell, &c. Tewkesbury and
Glocester, are most admired.
Speaking of the history of the place, we find Cheltenham was a town in
the reign of King William the Conqueror; Edward likewise is supposed to
have marched through it, before he encamped his army on the field of
Tewkesbury, previous to the battle of the houses of York and Lancaster.
Three days may be passed very pleasantly at this place, in viewing the
various improvements that have been made in the last twenty-five years,
tending both to increase the health and pleasure of its numerous and
respectable visitors: for these improvements the town is greatly indebted
to the exertions of Messrs. Moreau, King, and Fotheringham, the masters
of the ceremonies. Duty with such men scarcely required the additional
stimulus of interest to render it efficacious; but with so powerful an
auxiliary it was irresistible: thousands have been expended after
thousands; public spirit was roused, and competition excited. The public
as well as Messrs. Thompson, Skillicorne, Capstack, Smith, Barrett,
Watson and Co., and all others who have spiritedly adventured their
property, will, I hope, derive mutual advantage, if not checked by the
high charges of some of the head inns, and the enormous establishments of
the overbearing, monopolizing barrack lodging-houses, apparently better
calculated for workhouses or houses of correction, than places of
residence for valetudinarians.
The wells and baths are numerous, and calculated, under proper medical
superintendance, for all chronic disorders and constitutions; but they
are not to be trifled with: professional advice, for their proper use, is
absolutely necessary.
Of the efficacy of the water, to which this town is indebted for its
present celebrity, I refer my readers to a Treatise published by Dr.
Fothergill, of Bath.
The church is a respectable old building, by far too crowded and
encumbered with galleries, and what are intended as accommodations for a
large congregation, to allow all parties to participate in and profit by
the excellent and elegant moral and religious discourses there delivered.
The rooms and public receptacles for company, it should be the business
of some party to see closed, at all events on Sunday, and particularly on
Sunday morning, against those errant gamblers, that will eventually be
the bane of Cheltenham.
Libraries and Banks are numerous, as are conveyances to London through
Oxford, and to Bristol through Glocester: here likewise are conveyances
to Hereford, Worcester, Birmingham, &c., and by that route to North
Wales; but this is not to be depended upon: but to South Wales, through
Glocester and Hereford, the conveyance by coach and waggon for passengers
or baggage is ready and convenient.
For further particulars relative to this splendid modern establishment,
for such Cheltenham certainly may with propriety be designated, I must
refer the reader to the Cheltenham Guide; the information derived from
which will amply repay him for its trifling cost. From hence to
Glocester, eight miles one furlong, the road excellent; and if time
allows, Tewkesbury is worthy of a visit, being only nine miles from
Cheltenham, and ten miles and an half from Glocester.
Its ancient abbey is a venerable building, founded in 715 by two
brothers, Odo and Dodo, who endowed it with the manor of Stanway in
Glocestershire, &c. &c. sufficient to maintain a prior and four monks of
the order of Benedictines: this priory was afterwards, about the year
980, subjected to the priory of Cranbourne, in Dorsetshire, but being
subsequently rebuilt in 1102, by Robert Fitz-Hamon, and its endowments
greatly enlarged, Girald the Abbot of Cranbourne, on account of the
fruitfulness of the soil and superiority of its situation, removed his
establishment to it, leaving only a prior and two monks at Cranbourne.
From this period it appears to have risen in consequence as a town.
The ashes of many noble characters are here deposited; and amongst the
rest, amidst the mingled heap of slain and murdered at and after the
battle of Tewkesbury, those of the accomplished and lamented Edward,
Prince of Wales, son of King Henry the Sixth; Edmund, Duke of Somerset;
his brother John de Somerset, the Earl of Devonshire; Lord Wenlock,
master of the horse to the Prince, with numerous others. Here likewise
rest in peace, where all animosities are forgotten, the remains of
_false_, _fleeting_, _perjured Clarence_; as also those of Isabel his
wife, who was buried with great pomp and solemnity.
Further particulars of this ancient town, the reader will obtain by
reference to a small but interesting historical work, on the Antiquities
of Tewkesbury, by W. Dyde of that place; who, after giving a very full
and explicit account of the contest betwixt the houses of York and
Lancaster, concludes by saying, “The local memorials of this very
decisive battle are but few. The principal scenes of the action are the
meadow, which has received the appellation of Bloody Meadow, and the
Vineyard. The former lies between two gently descending banks, about
half a mile south-west of the town, and was the spot where the slaughter
was the greatest. The latter was the place where Queen Margaret lay, and
where some intrenchments are still to be traced.”
Stebbing says, “to the monastery and convent of Tewkesbury, King Henry
the Seventh granted the parochial church of Towton to pray for the soul
of Edmund Duke of Somerset, his brother John, and others, who lost their
lives in the quarrel of the house of Lancaster.”
The entrance to Tewkesbury from Worcester, or Hereford and Malvern, after
a heavy fall of rain, presents to the eye the largest moveable body of
inland water I have witnessed in England; the junction of the Severn, and
the Warwickshire Avon, each overflowing their banks, rushing down two
beautiful vales to join their currents opposite the town, and augmenting
their volume by the two tributary streams of the Carron and the Swilgate,
impress you with the idea of the vicinity of the sea, and the power of
the tide, to collect so large a body of that fluid element in such
overpowering currents. The drive or ride from Tewkesbury to Upton, and
from thence to Malvern hills, is beautiful; indeed not one inch of this
delightful country should be missed or slighted, by travelling over it in
the dark or in bad weather: the view from Malvern hills over Worcester,
and the rich vale through which the Severn’s current rolls, is perhaps as
fine a one as the eye of the painter could wish to be indulged with.
Winding round the Malvern hills by a good turnpike road, you gain the
Herefordshire view, with the mountains of Wales in the back ground,
having Ross on the left, and Bromyard, Leominster, and Salop on the
right; descending the hill, you soon reach Ledbury, scarcely remarkable
for any thing but the antiquity of its houses, and the fine quality of
the cider and perry made in its vicinity. Malvern is about an equal
distance from Ledbury and Upton, and those places are nearly equidistant
from