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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-06-10, Page 6014. lnn:5 of England By Walter Ii„ Legge; `allowing the .cou8Fletion of tho :bomber Press series Of article%. some readers hale enquired why there wars not one article about the old 'inns thepartyvisited. Such an article really has little to do with the war effort, so that it could not .properly belong in the, Bomber Press series. 3 ipwever, the old inns play a most important part in the life ,and h}Story of England, and we naturally' visited a number of them, Nearly every settlement of any size in England possesses at least one ancient inn well worth a visit, with an interesting history and pic- tur'e'sque architecture. Probably the most famous, to Can- adians at least, is the Old °heahire. Cheese in : k`leot Street, which dates back to 1667. It was a haunt of Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, James Boswell, an many other famous men. It has been badly battered in the raids on London, and its famous dish, beef -steak pudding, is out, probably for the duration, It was serving bev- erages when the Bomber Press was in London. One of the first that we visited was "Skindle's Hotel" at Maiden- head, which is not a very old, Inn but is quite famous, and was very popular before the war on account of its superb location on the Thames, Our party can testify that an excel- lent meal is stil being served there. Our home for many days was the "Old Ship" hotel at Brighton, one of the best known of the numberless hotels at that seaside city, It was here that. Dickens spent ten days in 1887 whe Phe was writing "Oliver Twist", and he described his quart- ers as "a beautiful bay -windowed sit- ting -room, fronting the sea." (Could it have been the same room that was occupied by Messrs. Charters and Legge while there?) This was far from the only time that Dickens stay- ed at the Old Ship, and he wrote from this hotel to George Cattermole who was illustrating the "Old Curios- if it might have a romantic past is ity Shop." Dickens is known to have, the "Hatchet". This was 'first pointed made many trips to Brighton and out to us one moonlight night as we probably was often at this old hotel. were returning from an evening at it did not take us long to discover the Savages' Club. In the deserted that the best meals in England in street by the eerie light of the moon wartime are to be found in some of it appeared as if anything might hap - the smaller old inns, and two of the pen there, but on a subsequent visit best meals we had while there were in the daytime, it seemed to lodge served at the "White Hart" at Lew-; nothing more sinister than a dart es, only a few miles from Brighton. I game. At this inn, the carving is done in These dart boards are tremendous - the dining room by Mrs. Walton, ly popular in England and niay be wife of the proprietor. I found in almost every hotel. The building is a very old one dat-, An inn which will be remembered ing from the fourteenth century, and by most Canadians who were in the was the home of the Pelham family, last war is the Royal Anchor at Lip - from which family came the Dukes hook. One of the features of this of Newcastle and the Earls of Chi- hotel is that all the rooms are named attester. The mansion was turned after famous people who have occnp- into an Inn about 1717, and since led them. This Inn dates from 1745. then has entertained many celeb- It is famous for the immense and rities. !"very old chestnut tree in front of it, After our second meal there, Mr. and also because' it was a haunt of Walton took the party through the Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton. It wine cellar of the Inn. This cellar is has to share that fame with a great reputed to have been used to confine many other places, because I con - prisoners during the Commonwealth eluded that there are as many places period, and is referred to in this in England where Lord Nelson and connection as "Ovingdean Grange" Lady Hamilton sojourned, as there by Harrison Ainsworth. There is are places in America where George some very fine oak panelling of the Washington slept. Tudor period in the two drawing Salisbury, Vial some of us visit - rooms. ed one Sunday has a number of Another fine meal at a small Inn famous old Inns, We were strongly was enjoyed in the same district at recommended to get our lunch at the the Roebuck Inn at Wych Cross, the "Haunch of Venison" but found that junction of two old Roman roads, it did not serve meals on Sunday. This Inn is not an old one, although This is believed to he the fun describe .it is made to look antiquated. ; ed in Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit Grantham, in Lincolnshire, has two where Toni Pinch went to meet Mar - famous old Inns, the "Angel" and the tin Chuzzlewit, and also where Tom "George". The latter, at which we returned after his dismissal from Mr. had a delicious lunch, proudly dis- pecksniff, plays a brass plate setting forth the Another hotel in Salisbury which Phrase in Dickens' "Nicholas :Tickle- figures in the same book is the White by" which reads, "Twenty miles fur- Hart, where Tigg and Jonas came on ther on, two of the front outside pas- the night of their disastrous ride sengers wisely availing themselves of from. London. The White Hart is their arrival at one of the best inns suite a large hotel with the figure of in England, turned in, for the night, a white hart on top of the front. This at the George at Grantham." The white hart can be seen for some dis- George dates from 1780, but does not tanee down the street. look as interesting, as the Angel goes! We were not able to get lunch at back to the fifteenth century and either of these hotels and went to once lodged Richard III. the County Hotel. Bristol has many fascinating old Another interesting old inn at inns; probably the most interesting which we stayed was the Saracen's being the "Llandoger Trow" which Head at Lincoln, but we could not was built in 1664, one of a block of " learn it had any special history. • half-timbered houses by the Welsh The inns mentioned above are Back quay. The quay is cobble -stone, ' some that we visited or stayed at, and the mooring posts are ancient but we passed large numbers of ships' cannon. It was from here that other picturesque ones. With the var- the "Hispaniola" of Stevenson's sous restrictions now in force, most "Treasure Island" set out and the of them are closed for a good part of Llandoger Trow was probably the the day. "Spyglass". Bristol was one of the One other inn was worthy of men - most famous pirates' haunts in the tion, the Northgate Arms, an old inn world, and some of the most notori- which is in beautiful condition, and oue pirates came from there such as at which we were served a splendid Capt. Edward Teach, (Blacltbeard, as meal. Tt is situated a few miles from he was called), Capt, Bartholomew Bath and stands entirely alone. Roberts, anti the pirate woman, Mary , There are no end of inns in Eng Read. land called "The Marquis of Granby," The cellars of the Llandoger Trow but the Marquis of Granby kept by were used as tetnporary prisons by MrS. Weller in "Pickwick Papers" the Press gangs, and also for rum was an entirely mythical inn. We running, and one passage leads to passed a great number of them, one the Welsh Back quay, and another to of the largest being in London on the the Theatre Royal. Old Kent Road, THE S AS+''QRTH NEWS. HUR DAV, JUNE 10, 1943 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER The voice ,of Dr. H. L. Stewart 'is a familiar one to Sunday night list- eners isteners of CBC's Week -end Review. Widely recognized as an authority on world and Canadian affairs, Ai'. Stewart has an impoering record of thought and travel behind him, He is a graduate of Edinburgh and Ox- ford, and a former Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Bel- fast. Since 1913, he has been with the Department of Philosophy at Dal- housie University, and at present is also editor-in-chief of the Dalhousie Review. Many famous people have been entertained at the Llandoger Trow, including Henry Irving, Wilson Bar- rett, Kate Terry, Beerbohn Tree, and Judge Jeffreys. In it Defoe met Dr. Selkirk, the original of Robinson' Crnsoe. The ceiling of the bar is now a shiny• black, but it is said that orig- inally, it was covered With excellent paintings of scantily clad ladies, but some 200 years ago a fascinating widow who kept the Inn had them Painted over with black because the seamen admired the paintings instead of her. Another Bistol Inn which looks as Canadian Pacific Spitfires Take To11 of Bun 1anes The two Spitfires presented to the Royal Canadian Air Force overseas by officers and employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway from the proceeds of their novel Golden. Air- craft Fund have had "very remarkable careers", according to the R.C.A.F. News Service. Pilots flying them have shot down at least seven Hun 'planes, damaged nine and chalked up two probables, and, in addition, Canadian Pacific I and II were the "personal" ships of two Canadian aces when they won the Distinguished Flying Cross. The two fighter 'planes, pictured on the upper right of the layout above, were paid for by the sale of old gold donated from all over the Canadian Pacific to a fund originated by Miss Gladys Gowlland (uppee left), of the treasury department in Montreal, who is shown rolling the sinews of war out of the barrel and into a model C.P.R. train. The pilots who "got their gong" while flying the C.P,R. Spitfires are Squadron Leader D. G. (Bud) Malloy, D.F.C., of Halifax (left), who made 46 sweeps with Canadian Pacific II; and Flight Lieutenant G. B. (Scotty) Murray, D.F.C., also of Halifax, who destroyed one enemy aircraft, damaged four and,. had two probables in 27 sweeps with Canadian Pacific I. ,—Photos by R,C,A.F., Toronto Star and Canadian Patijir. ° The other hotels we stayed in in England were more or less -modern ones, and have been mentioned in other articles. Repairing Farm Machinery Due to the scarcity of materials and labor farmers should make pre- parations for repairing their farm machines during the coming winter. Machinery must now last longer to conserve metal, and because delays in farm operations are now more "cost- ly due to the shortage of labor, says W, Kalbfleisch, Agricultural Engineer, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. One of the first requirements in a winter repair program is a 'building for the housing of a machine while It is being repaired. Where a regular farm workshop is not available, the conditioning of a shed, automobile garage, granary, or some other build- ing, for repair 'work should b- sidered. Good lighting and heating with proper fire protection will make a building comfortable for work in cold weather. A repair program should be start- ed as early in the fall as possible. By. checking over machines and equip- ment and ordering repair parts early, the parts will be on hand when the actual repair work can be done. Many farmers have kept machines in good repair in a very small shop by remov- ing parts such as wheels, chains, poles and cutter bars, from various implements, and taking the parts into a warm well-equipped shop to do the repair work. With a suitable building for repair work, gates, door hinges, pumps, hay forks, water tanks, stone boats, hog feeders, wagons, shovels, ropes, anti. many other pieces of equipment 0811 also be reconditioned. Time spent on equipment during the winter will save precious huors during the summer. If there is a good harness maker or a reliable tractor repair man in a nearby town, it may be advisable to hire these men to do the necessary repair work, if the farmer has not the tools, facilities, or experience to do the work. Poison Ivy May • Spoil a Picnic Poison ivy is one of the worst veg- etable poisons in North Amerida, and is to he found growing under a var.. iety of conditions, wet or dry, shaded or exposed, and in any sort of soil from pure sand or rocky woods or fields. While widely distributed across Canada, complaints of poison- ing are most numerous from Ontario and the adjacent parts of Quebec, especially from the wooded lake and highland regions so attractive to campers and picnickers, Experienced picnickers in prepar- harriaing the outfit... }for the day take the precaution to include a piece of strong laundry soap. Many remedies have been suggested to allay the burning and irritation caused by coming in contact with poison Ivy, but one of the simplest is immediate washing of the parts acected with strong laundry soap. Pcison ivy has many guises. It may readily be confused at firat sight. with Virginia creeper. However, the leaves of the Virginia creeper appear in leaflets of five. The leaves of poison ivy are borne alternately on the stem in threes, similar to the strawberry leaf. In early summer, poison ivy has a whitish flower on a green baokgroundgrouncl; 'the Virg- inia creeper has clusters of blue fruit on red stalks. Full information may be found in publication No. 564 "Poison Ivy" and may be obtained by writing to Dominion Department .,of Agriculture, Ottawa. Send us the names of your visitors. unter Check Books We Are Selling Quality Books Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily, All styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order. The Seaforth NewsThe News BEAFOBTH, ONTARIO.