and Byways
From a Motor Car
BEING A RECORD OF A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TOUR IN
ENGLAND, WALES AND SCOTLAND
BY
Thos. D. Murph
We were now
in a section of England rich in historic
associations. We were nearing the spot where William the Conqueror landed and
where the battle was fought which overthrew the Saxon dynasty—which an eminent
authority declares to have done more to change the history of the Anglo-Saxon
race than any other single event. From Lewes, over crooked, narrow and rather
rough roads, we proceeded to Pevensey, where the Normans landed nearly a
thousand years ago. It is one of the sleepy, unpretentious villages that dot
the southern coast of England, but it has a history stretching far back of many
of the more important cities of the Kingdom. It was a port of entry in early
times and is known to have been in existence long before the Romans came to
Britain. The Romans called it Anderida, and their city was situated on the site
of the castle. Like other Sussex towns, Pevensey lost its position as a seaport
owing to a remarkable natural movement of the coast line, which has been
receding for centuries. When the Conqueror landed the sea came up to the castle
walls, but now there is a stretch of four miles of meadowland between the coast
and the town.
The castle, rude and ruinous,
shows the work of many centuries, and was really a great fortress rather than a
feudal residence. It has been in a state of decay for many hundreds of years,
but its massive walls, though ivy-grown and crumbling, still show how strongly it was built. It is now the property of the
Duke of Devonshire, who seeks to check further decay and opens it to the public
without charge.
Battle, with
its abbey, is a few miles from Pevensey. This abbey marks the site of the
conflict between the Normans and the Saxons and was built by the Conqueror on
the spot where Harold, the Saxon king, fell, slain by a Norman arrow. William
had piously vowed that if he gained the victory he would commemorate it by
building an abbey, and this was the origin of Battle Abbey. William took care,
however, to see that it was filled with Norman monks, who were granted
extraordinary privileges and treasure, mostly at the expense of the conquered
Saxons. The abbey is one of the best preserved of the early monastic buildings
in England, and is used as a private residence by the proprietor. The church is
in ruins, but the great gateway, with its crenelated towers, and the main part
of the monastic building are practically as they were when completed, shortly
after the death of the Conqueror.
Battle Abbey, since the time of
our visit, has passed into the possession of an American, who has taken up his
residence there. This case is typical of not a few that came to our attention
during our stay in England. Many of the historic places that have for
generations been in the possession of members of the nobility have been sold to
wealthy Americans or Englishmen who have made fortunes in
business. These transactions are made possible by a law that permits entailed
estates to be sold when the owner becomes embarrassed to such an extent that he
can no longer maintain them. And some of these places are sold at astonishingly
low figures—a fraction of their cost. It is another of the signs of the
changing social conditions in the British Empire.
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