and Byways
From a Motor Car
BEING A RECORD OF A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TOUR IN
ENGLAND, WALES AND SCOTLAND
BY
Thos. D. Murph
It was now
early in August; the English twilights were becoming shorter, and for the third
time it was necessary to light the gas-lamps. We did not reach the hotel in
Brighton until after ten o'clock.
Brighton is probably the most
noted seaside resort in England—a counterpart of our American Atlantic City. It
is fifty miles south of London, within easy reach of the metropolis, and many London business men live
here, making the trip every day. The town has a modern appearance, having been
built within the past hundred years, and is more regularly laid out than the
average English city. For two or three miles fronting the beach there is a row
of hotels, some of them most palatial. The Grand, where we stopped, was one of
the handsomest we saw in England. It has an excellent garage in connection and
the large number of cars showed how important this branch of hotel-keeping had
become. There is no motor trip more generally favored by Londoners than the run
to Brighton, as a level and nearly straight road connects the two cities. There
is nothing here to detain a tourist who is chiefly interested in historic England.
About a hundred years ago the fine sunny beach was "discovered" and
the fishing village of Brightholme was rapidly transformed into one of the best
built and most modern of the resort towns in England. Its present population of
over one hundred thousand places it at the head of the exclusive watering
places, so far as size is concerned.
A little to the north of
Brighton is Lewes, the county town of Sussex, rich in relics of antiquity. Its
early history is rather vague, but it is known to have been an important place
under the Saxon kings. William the Conqueror generously presented it to one of his followers, who fortified
it and built the castle the ruins of which crown the hill overlooking the town.
The keep affords a vantage point for a magnificent view, extending in every
direction. I had seen a good many English landscapes from similar points of
vantage, notably the castles of Ludlow, Richmond, Raglan, Chepstow and others,
and it seemed strange that in such a small country there should be so many
varying and distinctly dissimilar prospects, yet all of them pleasing and
picturesque.
The country around Lewes is
hilly and rather devoid of trees. It is broken in many places by chalk bluffs,
and the chalky nature of the soil was noticeable in the whiteness of the
network of country roads. Many old houses are still standing in the town and
one of these is pointed out as the residence of Anne of Cleves, one of the
numerous wives of Henry VIII. Near the town and plainly visible from the tower
is the battlefield where in 1624 the Battle of Lewes was fought between Henry
VII and the barons, led by Simon de Montfort. Lewes appears to be an old, staid
and unprogressive town. No doubt all the spirit of progress in the vicinity has
been absorbed by the city of Brighton, less than a dozen miles away. If there
has been any material improvement in Lewes for the past hundred years, it is
hardly apparent to the casual observer.
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