CHAPTER XX
Coveney.--Manea.--Doddington.--March, Angel Roof.--Whittlesea.--Old Course of Ouse, Well Stream.--Upwell, Outwell.--Emneth.--Elm.--The Marshland.--West Walton.--Walsoken.--Walpole.--Cross Keys.--Leverington.--Tydd.--Wisbech, Church, Trade, Castle, Catholic Prisoners, Clarkson.--The Wash.--King John.
In close contiguity to the Island of Ely, on the west, is a tiny satellite, which supports the little village of Coveney. Here the church has some remarkable modern woodwork from Oberammergau, the gift of Mr. Athelstan Riley. The pulpit is also remarkable, dating from 1703 and being of Danish work. More remote are Manea and Stonea, both, happily for themselves, now on a railway line, but otherwise unspeakably inaccessible. It is strange at Manea to see the towers of Ely a short five miles away, and to know that twenty miles of bad road will scarcely get you there. Both names seem to have the same signification, Stone Island; which (as they are eminently unstony, being merely low elevations of gravel) may perhaps refer to the selenite crystals with which the ground here teems. Manea Station is one of the few inland places where the curvature of the earth can be clearly seen. The line (towards March) is perfectly straight and perfectly level, and along it you may observe the trains rising into sight over the horizon like ships at sea.
March stands on a much larger island, seven miles in length. At its southern extremity is Doddington, where the fine Early English church was once the richest in England. It was the Mother Church of a wide district, including its whole island and the fens for miles around. As these were drained so did the value of the benefice increase, till it became worth over L7,000 per annum. Parliament then stepped in, and divided the parish (and income) into seven Rectories, three of these being in the town of March, a modern growth around its important railway junction at the furthest northern point of the island. A fourth is Old March, a quiet "village-hamlet" (as Cardinal Wolsey calls it) two miles south of its larger offspring. The church here is most exceptionally beautiful. It is a Perpendicular structure, with a fine crocketed spire and flint patterns in the outer walls of the clerestory. The roof is beyond all magnificent, with "an innumerable company of Angels" along its vista of double hammer-beams. A brass commemorates William Dredeman, the donor of this crowning glory, who died in 1503; and there is another to Catharine Hansard, 1517, on which the Annunciation is depicted. The church is dedicated to St. Wendreda, a purely local saint.[246] The Parish account-books here give a striking picture of the mutations of the Reformation period. There are payments "for pluckynge doun emags [images] in ye Chyrch and for drynkynge thereat" (1547); "for breckyng down the Altar and carrying forth ye stons" (1550); "for makyng the Hy Alter" (1553); "for pulling doun ye hy alter" (1558); and "for a comunion tabull" (1559).
[Footnote 246: See p. 275.]
March is the half-way house between Ely and Peterborough, and between it and the last-named lies Whittlesea, also on a good-sized island of its own, which extends nearly to the Northamptonshire mainland. It is a pleasant little town, with a picturesque market place, where the ancient Market House still rises in the centre. And its church almost rivals that of March, with a still more glorious spire. In 1335 Whittlesea was the scene of a most unedifying conflict between the Abbeys of Ramsey and Ely. To begin with, the Abbot of Ramsey and his monks raided the lands at Whittlesea belonging to Ely, drove away sixteen horses, and (by firing the sedge) burned twenty others, besides ten oxen, eighty cows, and one hundred swine, along with much grass, reeds, and other property. In retaliation for this outrage the Prior of Ely (and he, too, the saintly Prior Crauden) organised a regular military expedition, and came, at the head of the whole Abbey musters, "with banners flying as in war," to Ramsey itself, where, as that House complains, he "hewed down our woods, depastured our grass, and drove off our cattle." Both parties appealed to the King; but the discreditable transaction seems to have ended in a compromise. That such wild work should be possible at all in England reminds us that at this date the country had not yet recovered from the confusions attendant on the fall and murder of Edward the Second eight years before.
Till the latter part of the nineteenth century Whittlesea gave its name to a famous mere, lying to the south of the town, and on the very border of the fens. It was a sheet of shallow water a couple of miles in length and breadth, and furnished a splendid field for angling, skating, and boat-sailing. Its shallowness made it none the less dangerous; for the bottom was fathomless ooze, so soft that the punting poles used here had to be furnished with a round board at their extremities, and demanded special skill, for if you once let this board get underneath the mud, it was much more likely to pull you in than you to pull it out.
Other islets of the fen archipelago are Murrow, between Thorney and Wisbech, Westry near March, and Welney, on the Old Bedford river to the north of Manea. The name of the last reminds us that by it ran the old Well Stream, long robbed of its waters by their diversion to Lynn in the thirteenth century. To this day, however, its course may be traced on the map by the meandering boundary between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk across the fen. Following this line northwards we shortly come to the outskirts of the firm ground on which Wisbech stands, an _artificial_ island dating from Roman times and owing its existence to the great Roman sea wall around the Wash.
Through this island ran the great Well Stream, giving their names to the villages (or rather the village, for they form a continuous row of houses) of Upwell and Outwell. This is the longest village in England, stretching on either side of the road for nearly five unbroken miles. It contains over 5,000 inhabitants, and lies partly in Cambridgeshire
## partly in Norfolk. The churches are in the latter county, and are
grand specimens of the splendid series of churches which glorify the Marshland, as this district by the Wash has for ages been named. Both are of Perpendicular date, with a tower somewhat older. That of Upwell has an elaborate turret for the Sanctus bell. The canopy over the pulpit is still more elaborate. The roof has a series of angels, but far less numerous and effective than those at March. At Outwell there is a fine Decorated door, like that of Barrington.
[Illustration: _Elm Church._]
Emneth, on the further road to Wisbech, also has an angel roof, of specially interesting character. Each figure is holding some symbol of the Faith; one the Host, another a candlestick, another a Gospel-book. At Elm, hard by, may be seen a still more interesting development of church architecture. The tower is Early English, enriched on its internal face with exquisite shafting, and opening into the nave by an Early English arch. But both shafting and arch must have been insertions in much older work, for between the two may be seen the high-pitched string-course and the rude little window of the original Saxon church. The nave is also Early English (clerestory and all, which is rare hereabouts), while the chancel is Decorated, with its roof higher than that of the nave.
Here at a farm house called Needham Hall (from a famous historic mansion formerly on the site) is shown an old table formed of one solid piece of oak, on which Oliver Cromwell is said to have once slept. When he arrived here at the head of his command during the Civil War, he chose this rude couch in preference to the best bed in the house, that he might fare no better than his men, who were bivouacking in the yard and outhouses.
The churches along the Roman sea-wall on either side of the old Well Stream estuary are also of rare magnificence. To the east, in Norfolk, we find a series of villages deriving their names from the wall itself,--Walsoken, West Walton, Walpole St. Peter, and Walpole St. Andrew. In every one of these the church is a joy; above all at West Walton, with its bell-tower (fifty yards to the south of the main building) uplifted on four graceful arches enriched with dog-tooth moulding. Octangular buttresses support the angles, which are ornamented with blank lancet arches. The next floor has on each side an arcade of three lancets, and the storey above a window of two lights beneath an arch of two mouldings, forming a splay of four banded pillars. No more perfect gem of composition exists; and the Perpendicular parapet which now crowns it very inadequately takes the place of the spire which seems to have been purposed by the original builder. The church itself displays similar features of Early English grace. The nave pillars have Purbeck marble shafts, with beautifully foliated capitals, and the clerestory is pierced with seventeen small archlets, alternately blind and light.
Walsoken, now practically a suburb of Wisbech, has a Perpendicular shell around a Norman nave, which is (next to Norwich Cathedral) the best example of the style in all Norfolk. The chancel arch is a deservedly famous specimen of Transition work. It springs from six banded pillars, and has a soffit exquisitely worked with zig-zags and cusps. The screens of the chapels which formerly occupied the east end of either aisle are rich Perpendicular woodwork. The roof is also Perpendicular, with angels on the transome beams.
Walpole St. Peter's is even more remarkable; for there is actually an ancient right of way through it, _underneath the Altar_. The thirteenth century chancel, with its five large Decorated windows on either side, ascends by no fewer than eleven steps from the nave to make room for this unique passage way. The five windows of the nave are of the earliest and best Perpendicular, and its eastern gable is crowned with three beautifully proportioned pinnacles. In this parish is the hamlet of Cross Keys, the name of which is sometimes supposed to be connected with St. Peter. But it is much more probably the _quay_ at the starting point of the ancient low-tide passage across the sands of the estuary which led to Sutton Crosses on the Lincolnshire side, five miles away, and which played, as we shall shortly tell, so notable a part in English history. From Walpole the sea-wall sweeps round by Terrington to Lynn. But here we are far in Norfolk. We must not, however, forget that we owe one of our Cambridge Colleges to Terrington, for Dr. Gonville, while Vicar here, founded in 1347 his "College of the Annunciation," the embryo of Caius College.
[Illustration: _Walpole St. Peter._]
On the Cambridgeshire side of the Well Stream we also find churches fully equal to those on the Norfolk bank. Leverington is one specially to be noted, with its beautiful steeple, an Early English tower surmounted by a Decorated spire so exquisitely proportioned that it seems absolutely to melt away into the sky. There is also a fine Decorated porch with a stone-roofed parvis chamber of original and singular beauty. The chancel is also Decorated, while the grand nave is Perpendicular. The font, too, is Perpendicular, an octagonal structure of oolite, with richly ornamented niches on every face, each containing the head of a saint in high relief. The east window of the north aisle retains much of its ancient glass, proving it to be a "Jesse" window, tracing the descent of Christ from that patriarch through David.
* * * * *
Tydd St. Giles lies at the northernmost extremity of the Isle of Ely, where the "Shire Drain" divides the village from its sister parish of Tydd St. Mary in Lincolnshire. Here, too, the church is remarkable, having its tower fifty feet beyond the East End, a unique position. Like Leverington, it has a specially fine octagonal font, richly traceried, and carved with emblems of the Passion and with the arms of the See of Ely. In the floor of the nave is a thirteenth century gravestone, bearing a floriated cross, and the legend (in Old English characters): "Orate.pro.anima.dni John.Fysner, cujus.aie.deus.ppiciet.Amen." (Pray for the soul of Mr. John Fysner, on whose soul may God be merciful.)
On one of the pillars is a more interesting inscription in rude capital letters, much worn. It is in French, and would seem to be of the early fourteenth century, when that language was becoming very fashionable in England, as our current legal phraseology still shows. It runs thus:--
CEST . PILER . CVME NCAT . RICARD . LE . PRE STRE . PRIMER . PRE YEZ . PVR . LVI
_i.e._ in modern French: "Ce pilier commenca Ricard le Pretre premierement. Priez pour lui"; and in English "This pillar Richard the Priest first began. Pray for him."
After having told of so much loveliness all around, it is disappointing to be obliged to confess that at Wisbech itself, the metropolis of the northern Fenland, the church is comparatively commonplace. Not that it is otherwise than a fine structure, and, like Great Yarmouth, splendidly wide, having a double nave and a double chancel; but it is hopelessly outclassed by those in the neighbouring villages. The best feature is the tower, which is richly ornamented with sacred and heraldic devices of the later Perpendicular period. And in the nave is a fine fifteenth century brass. Otherwise there is little to say about it; and, indeed, little to say about Wisbech at all. It is a picturesque old place, with that somewhat pathetic picturesqueness of an ancient seaport town which the sea has deserted.
Wisbech, however, is not by any means a "dead city." It has 10,000 inhabitants, and keen local ambitions, which have developed an excellent museum and other up-to-date municipal equipment. Modern energy and science have, moreover, made so effective a waterway through the ten miles of silted-up estuary that vessels of 3,000 tons can now, at high tide, reach the wharf. Such, however, are almost unknown visitants. Last year (1909) the vessels clearing from the port numbered 209, of 36,000 tons in all. Two of these are registered at Wisbech itself, as are also twelve sea-fishing boats. A characteristic photograph of Wisbech's shipping is given by Mrs. Hughes in the "Geography of Cambridgeshire" (p. 118). Other photographs (pp. 47, 48) show the great height to which the tide rises in the river, there being a difference of over twenty feet between high and low water mark. The Nene still has its outfall here, and flows through the town in a fine sweep locally called the Brink.
It is hard to believe that this Brink is not the Beach whence the name of the town is vulgarly supposed to be derived. But you must not suggest this to a Wisbech man. The single vowel is an integral part of local faith and local pride, and to insert the "a" is to show yourself a hopeless outsider. With it the name would come from _Ouse-beach_ (like Land-beach and Water-beach near Cambridge). Without it the derivation is _Ouse-beck_. This last syllable is a Scandinavian word, well known throughout the north of England, and there signifying a running brook. Throughout the Fenland it is frequently used for a drain. But can the mighty Well Stream of the Ouse, at its tidal outfall here, have ever suggested either drain or brook to the men of old who named the place? And can these have been Scandinavians?
[Illustration: _Leverington._]
The chief oversea trade of Wisbech is in timber from Norway; and it also does a large traffic in fruit, flowers, and vegetables, which are extensively grown hereabouts. In this neighbourhood, moreover, may be seen a much rarer cultivated crop, nothing less primitive than the woad with which the ancient Britons dyed their bodies; though it is a mistake to suppose that this dye took the place of clothing, for as far back as history traces them they were quite fairly civilised, and used woad only for tattooing, like sailors.[247] It is now used for dyeing cloth. "An old woad mill, built of turf blocks arranged in the ancient herring-bone pattern, with a timber and reed-thatched roof, can still be seen at the village of Parson's Drove, about six miles from Wisbech. The plant (_Isatis tinctoria_) grows about six feet high, and has a blue-green leaf and bright yellow flower; the people still call it by its old name, _w[-a]d_. The young plants are delicate, and the crop requires much care. It is weeded by men and women clad in hardened skirts and leathern knee-caps, who creep along the ground and take out the weeds with a curious little handspade which fits into the palm. The plant is picked by hand. The leaves are crushed to a pulp in the mill by rude conical crushing wheels dragged round by horses, and are then worked by hand into large balls and laid on "fleaks" of twined hazel, or on planks, in special sheds, for three months to dry. After this, the balls are thrown together, mixed with water and allowed to ferment in a dark house for five or six weeks. The woad is then rammed into casks and is ready to be sold to cloth manufacturers."[248]
[Footnote 247: See my _Roman Britain_, p. 47.]
[Footnote 248: Hughes' _Geography of Cambs._, p. 97, where there is an interesting photograph of this Woad Mill.]
Wisbech plays but little part in history. Its position at the convergence of the two great Roman sea-walls, east and west of the estuary, makes it pretty certain that they must have had a station here; but, if so, it has wholly passed out of memory. Wisbech Castle is said to have been built by William the Conqueror, and certainly existed in the time of King John. It passed into the possession of the Bishops of Ely, and was rebuilt by two famous holders of the See, Bishop Morton, the designer and excavator of Morton's Leam,[249] and Bishop Alcock, the Founder of Jesus College, Cambridge.[250] Both these prelates were singularly thoroughgoing reformers. The former went into minute details about the dress of his clergy, forbidding them to wear gaudy attire (such as "lirripoops" or gowns open in front like a present-day M.A. gown), and charging them straitly to cut their hair "so that all men may see their ears." And the latter was an indefatigable pulpiteer; one of his University sermons is recorded to have lasted three mortal hours on end.
[Footnote 249: See p. 398.]
[Footnote 250: See p. 146.]
[Illustration: _Bell Tower, Tydd St. Giles._]
This episcopal connection of Wisbech Castle led to its becoming, in the reign of Elizabeth, the final scene of that pathetic and lingering tragedy, the fate of the old Catholic Hierarchy of England. Such of that hierarchy as were alive at Elizabeth's succession were, with one exception, deposed for refusing the Oath of Supremacy, to the number of fifteen. Shortly afterwards they were imprisoned, not by any process of law but by the Royal fiat, and continued under more or less severe restraint for the rest of their lives. This was wholly on account of their religion. Lord Burghley, a hostile witness (in his _Execution of Justice in England_[251]), testifies to their blameless characters, describing them as "faithful and quiet subjects," "persons of courteous natures," "of great modesty, learning and knowledge," "secluded only for their contrary opinions in religion, that savour not (like those of the seminary priests) of treason."
[Footnote 251: This work was published in 1583, to justify the execution of the seminary priests in England. Burghley's point is that quiet Papists were not put to death.]
Yet, though thus inoffensive, their doom was grievously heavy. Committed, to begin with, to solitary confinement, in what Froude calls "the living death of the Tower" and other London prisons, for three or four years, they were afterwards quartered (singly) on the Protestant prelates, who were stringently ordered by the Council to prevent them from communication, either by word or letter, with anyone, and to see that they had neither paper to write withal, nor books to read (except Protestant ones). Thus deprived of every intellectual, social, and religious solace, "pining away in miserable desolation, tossing and shifting from one keeper to another," they one by one drooped and died. But all remained steadfast to their Faith; and finally the "obstinate" survivors were, in 1580, closely imprisoned, along with others in like case, in Wisbech Castle.
Here they were under the charge of Cox, the new Protestant Bishop of Ely, who writes of them as "sworn against Christ," and boasts that "if walls, locks, and doors can separate them from out-practice they shall not want a sufficient provision of each." "Nor let it be thought, as some bishops have reported, that I mind to make trade by over-ruling such wretches." The "trade" was handed over to a favourite servant, to make what he could out of the unhappy prisoners (who, like all prisoners in those days, had to be supported by their friends), subject only to providing out of his takings L80 per annum for the upkeep of two Protestant preachers, "who are well able to set down God's anger" against Popery. These preachers (amongst whom one regrets to find "Lancelot Andrewes of Pembroke Hall") were ever and anon to pester the "recusants" with denunciatory discourses in the castle hall. "And the recusants shall be conveyed thither by a secret way, without seeing any; and they shall have a secret place for themselves to be in, to hear and not be seen.... This is the holy ordinance of God."[252]
[Footnote 252: See Bridgett and Knox, _Queen Elizabeth and the Catholic Hierarchy_, p. 197 _et seq._ It may have been these highly specialised discourses which put so fine an edge on Wisbech Protestantism that, in the Civil War, the Parson here was ejected for no more heinous offence than that "he called a Godly Minister (Mr. Allison) _Brother Redface_."]
Kept with this rigour the Confessors lingered on, year after year, till death set them free. The latest to be released were Thomas Watson, Bishop of Lincoln, who died in 1584, and Feckenham, the last Abbot of Westminster, who died in 1585. Both are buried (as the Parish Registers testify) in Wisbech churchyard.
The castle was sold by the See of Ely in 1783, and has since been almost wholly pulled down. Nearly at the same date a young man, born at Wisbech, was beginning those efforts which have reflected glory on his native town, and have revolutionised public opinion throughout the civilised world. The man was Thomas Clarkson, and the cause to which he devoted his life was the abolition of slavery. That institution, up to his time, was regarded as a very foundation of the earth. Rooted in the furthest past of man's history, and as world-wide as it was ancient, the idea of questioning its place in the eternal fitness of things never occurred even to philanthropists. A virtuous man would treat his slaves kindly; but as for not having such, he would as soon have scrupled at having sheep and oxen, or at employing hired servants.
It was left for young Clarkson, while a student at Cambridge, to realise that the time was come when, if the human conscience was to make any further progress in enlightenment, this hoary iniquity must, root and branch, be abolished. On a steep hillside above Wade Mill, in the road between Cambridge and London, a monument by the wayside still marks the spot where he dismounted from his horse, and, kneeling on the ground in the fervour of youthful enthusiasm, solemnly vowed to God that for this holy object he would live and, if need be, die.
At once he set to work. Gathering a band of like-minded friends round him (mostly belonging to the so-called Clapham Sect, who were then inaugurating the great Evangelical Revival)--Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, Babington, Thornton, Buxton, Cropper, and the rest--he started an agitation in and out of Parliament, which carried all before it. The Slave Trade was abolished in 1807; on August 1st, 1834, slavery itself ceased throughout the British Empire; the example of Britain was followed by other European Powers; and finally, in 1864, after a last desperate struggle for existence in the American Civil War, it was cast forth from its last stronghold in the United States. If practised at all now, it is practised under some feigned name and elusive system. No civilised man dare any longer proclaim himself an avowed slave-driver. Well indeed does Clarkson deserve the monument which Wisbech has erected to her glorious son.
At Wisbech, till the reclamation of the neighbouring Washes, Cambridgeshire (or rather the Isle of Ely) possessed an actual strip of seaboard extending from Wisbech town northward to the county boundary between Tydd St. Mary and Tydd St. Giles. This strip was itself reclaimed ground, but of far earlier date, due to the era of Roman civilisation in Britain. The old coast-line, as has been said, is still marked for us by a massive embankment extending from Sutton, in Lincolnshire, to Wisbech, and thence to King's Lynn, in Norfolk--an embankment sufficiently old to have given its name to the ancient villages along its course. The designations of Walsoken, West Walton, Walpole St. Peter, and Walpole St. Andrew, all testify to this sea wall having been already in existence when the East Anglians, in the fifth century, first took possession of the land.
[Illustration: _Wisbech Church._]
This embankment kept back, to the west and to the east, the tide-water of the Well Stream (see p. 399), a wide inlet of the sea, narrowing southward till it reached its extremity at Wisbech, and forming the estuary for the united outfall of all the Fenland waterways. In later days operations connected with the draining of the fens have diverted nearly the whole volume of the Great Ouse and its tributary streams to fall into the sea at King's Lynn, and have led the Nene straight to Wisbech. But till the thirteenth century was well advanced the Ouse and the Nene joined each other near Outwell, the united river being called the "Well" or "Well Stream." The names of Upwell, Outwell, Welney, &c., still preserve the memory of this old waterway.
The estuary was, of course, tidal, leaving at low water a broad expanse of sands, amidst which the shifting channel of the river was so far broadened out as to be fordable at certain points; thus admitting of passage across the whole breadth of the inlet, even where it became five miles wide. The regular track for this passage was from the little hamlet of Cross Keys, on the Norfolk coast (the name of which is derived from this circumstance) to Sutton Crosses, near the village of Long Sutton, on the Lincolnshire side, and is approximately marked for us to-day by the line of the Great Northern Railway between these spots, traversing the level fields and meadows which have (since the year 1830) finally replaced the sands of old.
The conditions of the passage were identical with those to be found now at Morecambe Bay. That estuary can also be crossed at low tide; but to do so in safety a good deal of local knowledge is essential. The right points for fording the river channels must be found, the numerous quicksands must be avoided, while the localities of both fords and quicksands are constantly changing. It is therefore exceedingly rash to make the attempt without guides; for across the level sands of every estuary the tide makes with extreme rapidity, sometimes coming in before the wind faster than any man can hope to outrun it. These guides are professionals, who await on either bank the demand for their services.
All this is exactly what is said of the Well Stream "Washes" in authorities of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As late as 1775, though successive reclamations had by that time reduced the breadth of the passage by more than half, we hear of the guide "always attending at Cross Keys to conduct passengers over, bearing a wand or rod in his hand, probably in imitation of Moses, who held a rod when he conducted the Israelites through the Red Sea." The rod was really used for probing the sand in front, lest it should prove "quick," and also for taking the bearings on the opposite shore by which the course was steered.
It was through neglect of such expert advice that the Well Stream estuary became the scene of that dramatic episode in English history, which, on the 13th of October in the year 1216, cost King John his treasures and his life. The story is narrated by the contemporary historian Roger of Wendover, and the Barnwell and Coggeshall chroniclers. The whole circumstances have been most carefully and minutely elaborated by Mr. St. John Hope, through whose kindness I am enabled to use his materials. His able monograph on the subject is to be found in Vol. LX. of "Archaeologia."
John was, in 1216, at death-grips with the Barons, who, in the previous year, had wrung from him the signature of Magna Charta. The rights and wrongs of the quarrel were not so wholly one-sided as is popularly supposed, and the appeal of both parties to the Pope had not sufficed to clear them up. The offer of the Crown by the Barons to Louis, Dauphin of France, was for the moment more successful. Most of England acknowledged him as King, and even the King of Scots came to do homage for his sub-kingdom (as Scotland then was); only a few strongholds, notably Windsor Castle, holding out for John and being besieged by the Barons.
John himself, however, was still at large, and at the head of a small, but very effective, mercenary army of filibusters from all the countries of Europe. He met the situation by a campaign of extraordinary energy; his object being to relieve his invested fortresses by drawing off their assailants to the defence of their own lands. Incidentally, desire of revenge, and the need of paying his troops by plunder, operated as a further motive for the merciless destruction which, in a series of brilliant and ferocious raids, he meted out to the districts owned by his opponents. The speed of his movements is almost incredible, considering the conditions of travel in the thirteenth century; but they can be traced with accuracy by the still existing entries in the Patent and Close Rolls; for day by day John did not cease to do royal business and to sign the documents submitted to him, however far he might have marched since morning. In the eyes of his Continental contemporaries this consuming energy came to be held his chief characteristic. In the "Dittamondo" of the Italian poet, Fazio degli Uberti, written early in the fourteenth century, which gives a brief notice of the successive Kings of England from the Norman Conquest onwards, the one thing mentioned about John is the "hot haste" of his riding.
Hot haste it was, indeed! Week after week the King made his army (which, though small, cannot have numbered fewer than two or three thousand men) cover distances that would be creditable to a solitary bicycle tourist on the macadamised roads of to-day. From Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire, whither he had retreated on the landing of Louis, he dashed across England (_via_ Bristol) to Cheshire, ravaged that district for over a fortnight, and was back at Corfe within six weeks of setting out. The very next day he was off again, and by a circuitous route of 155 miles (for his enemies' forces barred the direct way) reached Oxford within a week. A few days later another yet more wonderful week of 225 miles carried him from Reading to Lincoln; his daily stages being Bedford (45 miles), Cambridge (30), Castle Hedingham, in Essex (25), Stamford (70), Rockingham (10), and Lincoln (50). Here he remained ten days, during which he raised the siege of the castle; having also succeeded in relieving Windsor, for the Barons who were attacking it hastily broke up, and marched to Cambridge in hopes of cutting him off at this strategic point--the only place, as we have said,[253] where the Cam was passable for an army. It was doubtless to escape this danger that John undertook, on September 19th, the forced march of 70 miles from Hedingham to Stamford, which had perforce to be made _via_ "the Great Bridge" of Cambridge.
[Footnote 253: P. 6.]
Yet another week of marches up and down Lincolnshire, 115 miles in all, brought him round the Wash to Lynn (by way of Wisbech); and then came the great catastrophe.
It was on Wednesday the 12th of October, 1215, that King John, after three days' stay at Lynn, retraced his steps, with his wonted celerity, by way of Wisbech, to Swineshead Abbey near Boston, a distance of over forty miles. Documents signed by him on this day at all three places are to be found in the Patent and Close Rolls. His baggage train, which obviously could not have kept up with this pace, he ordered to follow by the direct route across the sands. We read with some surprise that his flying column was accompanied by such a train at all; but the contemporary historians agree in telling us of "carts, waggons, and sumpter horses," loaded with the King's treasures and properties (including even a portable chapel), and with the spoil amassed during this long raid.
Such a train would cover at least a mile on any road, and could only move quite slowly, three miles an hour at the very outside. How it kept touch with the column at all is a wonder, and we may be sure that it could never have done so during the forced march from Hedingham on the 19th of September. After that date the occupation of Cambridge by the Baronial forces would effectually bar the way against any attempt to follow in the King's track; and it is highly probable that he, knowing that this would be so, had ordered the train and its escort to make their way instead from Hedingham to Lynn, and that he paid his hurried visit to that place with the sole object of once more getting into touch with them.
However that may be, there is no doubt that the train did set out from Lynn, along the road to Cross Keys, after the King and his troops had ridden off towards Wisbech. It was impossible, however, to attempt the passage that same day, for the channel of the Well Stream could only be forded during the hour or so on either side of low-water, which, as calculations show, was on this day about noon. The long line of vehicles had, accordingly, to halt for the night at Cross Keys, for to have attempted the passage in the dark (the moon was nearly at the new), would have been simply suicidal.
Next morning, Thursday, October 13th, they woke to find the tide lapping against the old Roman embankment behind which they lay, for it was a spring tide, and at its highest about 6.30 a.m. Rapidly it receded, and by 9 a.m. the wide expanse of the sands would lie bare before them. The moment these were dry enough for the passage of carts they would start, for their leaders knew well the urgent necessity for speed. To get such a train across the Well Stream channel in the short space of two hours they must be at the ford the very moment it was practicable. Every instant was precious, and every driver did his utmost to press on, regardless of the warnings of the guides (if they had any).
But to drive a loaded cart over wet sand is at the best a slow job. Readers of Sir Walter Scott will remember his vivid description, in _Redgauntlet_, of the difficulties attending such attempts:
"The vehicle, sinking now on one side, now on the other, sometimes sticking absolutely fast and requiring the utmost exertions of the animal which drew it to put it once more in motion, was subjected to jolts in all directions.... There seemed at least five or six people around the cart, some on foot, others on horseback. The former lent assistance whenever it was in danger of upsetting or sticking fast in the quicksands: the others rode before and acted as guides, often changing the direction of the vehicle as the precarious state of the passage required.... Thus the cart was dragged heavily and wearily on, until the nearer roar of the advancing tide excited apprehension of another danger.... A rider hastily fastened his own horse to the shafts of the cart, in order to assist the exhausted animal which drew it, ... but at length, when, after repeated and hair-breadth escapes, it actually stuck fast in a quicksand, the driver, with an oath, cut the harness, and departed with the horses, splashing over the wet sand and through the shallows as he galloped off."
Multiply all this at least a hundred-fold, throwing in the added turmoil caused by the multitude of carts jamming and impeding one another, and we can picture something of the scene as that fatal morning advanced and the doomed cavalcade ploughed its way on to destruction. For there was no margin of time; and though the leading vehicles seem to have reached the Well Stream channel, they reached it too late. Already it was unfordable, for such traffic at least as theirs. Some of the carts doubtless tried to make a dash across; but their horses, exhausted by the strenuous effort of the last two hours, were unequal to the tremendous strain of negotiating the soft bottom of the stream. A very few such failures would entirely bar the way to those who were eagerly pressing on behind, and almost in a moment the whole column would be in irremediable confusion. In the struggling press, to turn would be as impossible as to proceed, while momentarily the laden carts, for which the only hope was to be kept going, would, at a standstill, sink deeper, inch by inch, into the ever quickening sand. And then in the midst of the welter, up came the tide, sweeping over the level sands, as spring tides in the Wash do sweep;--and, when the waters once more went down, of all that mass of treasure and plunder, of all those horses and drivers and carts and waggons not a trace was to be seen. The sands had swallowed all; and to this day they retain their prey. As Shakespeare makes King John say:
"These Lincoln Washes have devoured them."
The expanse of sands is now an expanse of fields and meadows, through which the River Nene is led by a straight cut from Wisbech to the sea. Where that cut is crossed by the Great Northern Railway (which, as has been said, runs almost along the line of the old crossing-track) is the traditional spot of the disaster, and Mr. St. John Hope believes that excavation might there bring to light some of its relics, even after the lapse of so many years.
Matthew Paris (in his _Historia Anglorum_), writing in the generation following the catastrophe, tells us that John himself was on the scene and barely escaped from the rising waters. But he, as we have seen, was the previous night (and the next) at Swineshead Abbey. It is just possible that, with his astounding energy, he may have ridden in the morning with a few attendants to Long Sutton (a distance of twenty miles, as before the reclamation of the fens travellers from Boston thither would have to go round by Spalding), and thence across the sands, to overlook in person the passage of the Well Stream. If so, he may well, in the confusion, have been surprised by the tide and have barely escaped by hard riding. Anyhow the catastrophe cost him his life; for this heart-breaking blow, coming on top of his three months' herculean exertions, brought on a feverish attack that very night. Ill as he was, he was on horseback again by dawn, and rode fifteen miles to Sleaford. Next day he struggled on twenty miles to Newark, where "the disease increasing, he received the counsel of Confession and the Eucharist from the Abbot of Croxton," and died that same evening (October 18th), fairly burnt out by his own consuming and tireless energy. If ever King did, he "died standing."
"Foul as Hell is, it is defiled by the fouler presence of John." Such is the uncompromising verdict of the inimical chronicler; and such (in less trenchant phraseology) has been very much the verdict of popular historians even to our own day. But it was a verdict by no means universally accepted by contemporaries. John did not, like William Rufus, receive what Professor Freeman calls "the distinction of a popular excommunication." For Rufus no prayer was said, no psalm was sung, no Mass was offered. All men felt that prayer was hopeless. But John was buried in peace; and it speedily appeared that the cause for which he stood was the cause which (more especially when the weight of his own personal unpopularity was removed) most commended itself to the heart of England. Men had no desire to see the English Crown become an appanage for the heir to the French monarchy. And so Louis rapidly found. Within nine days of his father's death the infant Henry the Third was crowned at Gloucester,--with his mother's bracelet, in default of the proper crown (which, however, is not likely to be amongst the treasures lost in the Wash, as many histories assume); and within six months men were flocking "as to a Holy War," from all parts of the country, to take part in that decisive battle known as "the Fair of Lincoln," which crushed, once and for all, the foreign intrusion, and established irrevocably the claim of the native-born ruler to succeed his father on the throne of England.
And with this stirring story we take our leave of the Highways and Byways of Cambridgeshire, the stage of so many a story, the home of so many a memory; the scene--to those who have eyes to see--of so much quiet loveliness; where the Present is ever brooded over by the Past, and where on the anvils of Thought and Science the Future is ever being shaped. We have explored the County from end to end, we have mounted her uplands, we have traversed her fens, we have clambered her earthworks, we have entered her churches. Her Manor-houses have told us their tale of struggle, her Colleges have borne their witness to the growth of knowledge. We have been able to
"Watch Time's full river as it flows";
and the pathos of all that has come and gone stands out before us, as a record more thrilling than the most daring romance, as a theme more inspiring than the noblest poem. We bid good-bye to the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely feeling that no hue of dulness attaches to them, as is commonly supposed by the unappreciative crowd, but that rather the footprints of the past which abound within their borders give promise of a future that shall not be unworthy of what has gone before.
[Illustration: _The Old Court of Corpus._]
ADDENDA.
Attention should have been called to two remarkable ecclesiastical inscriptions, on the Eastern and Western borders of our district respectively.
In the upland churchyard of Castle Camps (p. 206), hard by the Priest's Door into the Chancel, a tombstone has the following epitaph:
Mors Mortis Morti mortem nisi morte dedisset AEternae Vitae janua clausa foret.
["Except the Death of Death Death's death by death had been Ne'er would Eternal Life with door unshut be seen."]
And in the church of Fen Stanton, low down amid the Ouse meadows near St. Ives, is the following ancient rebus (also hard by the Priest's Door):
QV A D T M P OS NGVIS IRVS RISTI VLCEDINE AVIT H SA M X D L
_I.e._--Quos Anguis dirus tristi mulcedine pavit Hos Sanguis mirus Christi dulcedine lavit.
["Whom the dire Serpent fouls with poisonous food Christ washeth in His sweet and wondrous Blood."]
A variant of these lines is to be seen in the Alpine sanctuary of Champery near the Lake of Geneva.
INDEX
A
Abbeys: Barnwell, 10, 160 Chatteris, 390 Crowland, 137, 393 Denny, 30, 298 Ely, 302-341, 345-376 Peterborough, 373, 390, 394 Ramsey, 75, 198, 279, 310, 392, 410 Soham, 178 Thorney, 392, 396
Abbey Barn, 161
Abington, 203
Adams, Prof., 266
"Ad eundem," 265
Adventurers, 403
Adwulf, 304
Agincourt, 184
Aidan, St., 175
Akeman Street, 252, 258, 295
Alan of Walsingham, 329, 345, 356, 360, 362, 366, 373
Alcock, Bp., 146, 283, 332, 376, 418
Aldreth, 283, 295, 316
Alfred the Etheling, 314
Alfred the Great, 11, 38, 169, 183, 213
Alum, 92
Ambulatory, 366
Ancarig, 392
Andrewes, Bp., 342
Andrew, St., Oratory of, 161
Anna, King, 303
Archdeacon of Ely, 282
Armeswerke, 306
Arnold, Matthew, 268
Arrington, 258
Artesian, 260
Ashwell, 248
Ashwell Bush, 236
Assandun, 205, 313
Assize of Barnwell, 161
Athelney, 308
Audley End, 234
Audrey's Fair, St., 307
Augustine, St., 38, 303
Augustinians, 11, 158
B
B.A., 16
Babraham, 202
Backs, 2, 41, 85
Bacon, 90, 102
Baitsbite, 296
Balsham, 171, 216
Balsham, Bp., 12, 25, 112, 325
Baptistery (Ely), 352
Barham Hall, 205
Barnack, 329
Barnett, Bp., 366
Barnwell, 10, 160
Barnwell Gate, 35, 152
Barnwell Priory, 16, 160, 370
Barrington, 238, 289
Barrow, 102
Bartlow, 205
Barton, 254
Barton Road, 252
Basevi, 371
Basket-making, 384
Bassingbourn, 247
Bateman, Bp., 82
Bath, 252
Becket, Thomas a, 235, 246
Bedford, Earl of, 406
Bedford Rivers, 280, 389
Bedmakers, 16
Belsars Hill, 283, 292
Benedictine Rule, 339
Benson, A. C., 138
Bentham, 345
Bentley, 40, 101, 105, 109
Bible (St. John's Coll.), 117
Bidding Prayer, 128
Biggin "Abbey," 295
Bishop's Delph, 178
Bishopsgate, 222
Black Death, 248, 340
Blaise, St., 284
Blazer, 119
Bluntisham, 280
Boadicea, 172
Boat Houses, 146
Boat Races, 88, 146, 296
Boat Show, 43
Bonfire, 85
Borough, 7, 8
Borough Green, 188
Botolph, St., 32, 34, 304
Bottisham, 189
Bourn, 273
Bourn Brook, 270
Bourne R., 202
Brazier, 97
Brandon, 185
Bretwalda, 178
Bridges: Clare, 42, 84, 93 Great, 46, 136 Hauxton, 235 Hostel, 43 Huntingdon, 278 King's, 42 Magdalene, 136 Newnham, 41, 222 Queens', 41 St. John's, 118 Trinity, 43
Bucer, 23, 131
Buckingham College, 137
Bulldogs, 132
Burgesses, 12
Burgraed (King), 309
Burnt Mill, 236
Burwell, 195, 198
Bury St. Edmunds, 320, 370
Butcher's Broom, 227
Butterflies, 182, 211
Butter Measure, 12
Buttery, 95
Butts, 254
Byron, 90, 94
Byron's Pool, 220
C
Caldecote, 271
Cam, 7, 8, 40, 222, 295
Cambridge and Oxford, 2, 11, 17
Camden Society, 134
Camp of Refuge, 10, 316
Canute, 8, 205, 313
Car Dyke, 297
Carmelites, 11
Castle, 4, 138
Castle Camps, 206
Cavendish Laboratory, 159, 267
Caxton, 273
Ceilings, 100
Chad, St., 176, 355
Chained books, 83
Chancellor, 125
Chantries, 239
Chapel, Bush, 238
Chapel lists, 104
Chapels (College): Christ's, 153 Clare, 84 Corpus, 35 Emmanuel, 158 Girton, 144 Jesus, 147, 148 King's, 52-77, 290 Pembroke, 30, 342 Peterhouse, 26, 342 Queens', 48 St. John's, 113 Trinity, 102
Chapels (at Ely): Bishop Alcock's, 332, 369 Bishop West's, 332, 367 Crauden's, 330, 346 Lady, 330, 372 St. Catherine's, 352 St. Edmund's, 360
Charles the First, 101, 138, 182, 190, 268, 406
Charles the Second, 173
Cherry Hill, 345
Cherryhinton, 208
Chester, 221
Chesterford, 232
Chesterton, 295
Chevely, 185
Childerley, 271
Chimes, 101, 129
Choirs, 114
Choir School (Ely), 314
Christopher, St., 205
Chum, 288
Church ales, 247
Churches (Cambridge): Abbey, 161 All Saints', 108 Christ Church, 162 Holy Sepulchre, 133 Holy Trinity, 152 Our Lady's, 21 St. Andrew's the Great, 155 St. Andrew's the Less, 161 St. Benet's, 36 St. Botolph's, 32 St. Clement's, 136 St. Giles', 140 St. Mary's the Great, 127 St. Mary's the Less, 25 St. Michael's, 13, 86 St. Paul's, 162 St. Peter's, 140
Churches (Ely): Holy Trinity, 372 St. Cross, 379 St. Mary's, 378
Clapham Sect, 422
Clapper Stile, 204
Clarence, Duke of, 94
Clarkson, 421
Clayhithe, 296
Clergy Training School, 148
Clerks, 11
Clerk-Maxwell, 97
Cloisters, 92, 353
Clough, 142
Clunch, 198, 236
Codex Bezae, 82
Coe Fen, 159
Coleridge, 150
"College" (Ely), 376
Colleges: Christ's, 152-155 Clare, 83-85, 342 Corpus Christi, 35-38 Downing, 159 Ely Theological, 382 Emmanuel, 156-158 Girton, 144 Gonville and Caius, 120-124 Jesus, 146-150, 369 King's, 50-79 Magdalene, 137 Newnham, 142 Pembroke, 28-34, 298 Peterhouse, 25-28, 369 Queens', 47-50 Ridley Hall, 142 St. Catherine's, 39-40 St. John's, 109-119 Selwyn, 144 Sidney Sussex, 151-152 Trinity, 86-107, 242 Trinity Hall, 82-83 Westminster, 142
Comacine Guild, 353
Comberton, 254
Combination Rooms, 26, 97
Commons, 1
"Commons," 95
Common Fields, 3
Conduit, 23, 130, 158
Confessionals, 263
Conington, 292
Conqueror, William the, 187, 283, 315, 359
Coprolites, 240
Corporation, 12, 185
Coton, 89
Cottenham, 298
Courts (College), 2
Courts, Christian, 11
Covenant, 91
Coveney, 409
Cox, Bishop, 289
Cratendune, 179, 303
Cranmer, Abp., 150
Crauden, Prior, 330, 346, 359, 410
Cromwell, Oliver, 32, 128, 151, 272, 278, 367, 381, 406, 412
Cross Keys, 413, 424, 427
Crusades, 328
Cycloid, 89
Cyclone, 276
Cymbeline, 172
D
Darwin, 155
Deanery (Ely), 348, 353
Decorated, 334
Degrees, 16
Denver, 387
Denver Sluice, 280, 389, 407
Devil's Dyke, 171, 187, 194, 212, 300
"Disinherited," 325
Divinity schools, 109
Doddington, 409
Dominicans, 11, 155
Dowsing, 56, 187, 189, 205, 222, 270
Dry Drayton, 270
Dullingham, 188
Dunstan, Abp., 309
Dunwich, 180
"Duties," 377
Duxford, 228
Dykes, 170-173
E
Earith, 298, 389
Early English, 334
Eastern Counties Association, 380
Edgar the Peacemaker, 309, 373, 192
Edmund the Ironside, 206, 313
Edmund, St., 175, 180, 262
Edmundhouse, 142
Edward the Confessor, 314
Edward the Elder, 6, 8, 169, 212, 278
Edward the First, 328
Edward the Second, 86, 359, 411
Edward the Third, 86, 101, 330, 348, 359
Edward the Seventh, 94, 268
Egbert, 7, 169
Eleanor, Queen, 324
Electoral roll, 125
Elizabeth, Queen, 126, 290, 419
Elm, 412
Elsworth, 292
Eltisley, 274
Ely, 7, 11, 140, 188, 236, 302-385, 409
Ely House, 290, 333
Ely Place, 322
Emma, Queen, 314
Emneth, 412
Enclosure Acts, 387
Epigrams, 80
Erasmus, 47
Erconwald, St., 176, 262
Ermine Street, 244, 258, 273
Ermenilda, 176, 307
Esquire, Bedell, 128
Ethandune, 308
Etheldreda, St., 7, 169, 175, 179, 283, 303, 358
Ethelred, the Unready, 310
Eton, 51
Eustace, Bp., 349, 367
Eversden, 289
Examination Hall, 15
Examinations, 14, 98
Exeat, 17
Exning, 173, 175
F
Fagius, 23, 131
Fairy-cart, 260
Falcon Cup, 84
Felix, St., 178
Fellow Commoners, 151
Fellows, 2, 89
Fen Ditton, 171, 295
Fields, 3
Firehooks, 38, 204
First Trinity, 88, 148
Fisher, Bishop, 110, 152
Fisher, Osmund, 149
Fitzwilliam, 23, 371
Fleam Dyke, 170, 210
Fordham, 176
Fowlmere, 230
Foxton, 242
Franchise of Ely, 321
Franciscans, 11, 100, 152
Free School Lane, 36
Freshman's Pillar, 92
Friars, 11
Fulbourn, 209
Fuller, 344, 357, 384
G
Galilee, 324, 349
Garret Hostel, 43
Gating, 16
Geoffry de Magnaville, 34, 200
George the First, 80
George the Third, 90
Gibbet, 273
Gibbons, 90
Girton, 268
Girvii, 169
Godmanchester, 278
Godolphin, 202
God's House, 153
Gogmagogs, 201
Gonville, 14, 120
Goodhart, 95
Goodrich, Bp., 332, 341, 376
Granby, Marquis of, 98
Granta, 7, 202, 222
Grantabridge, 7
Grantabrigshire, 8
Granta-ceaster, 7
Grantchester, 7, 221
Grantset, 7
Gray, 28
Great Ouse, 399
Greek, 47
Greensand, 240
Guild Hall, 130
Guilden Morden, 262
Gunning, Bp., 342, 367
Guyhirn, 289
H
Haddenham, 282, 356
Halls, 15
Hardwick, 270
Harlton, 255
Harvard, 156
Haslingfield, 236
Hauxton, 235
Hemingford, 279
Henrietta Maria, Queen, 116
Henry the First, 359
Henry the Third, 324, 359
Henry the Sixth, 41, 51, 54
Henry the Eighth, 87, 97, 118, 152, 283, 372
Hereward, 10, 283, 315
Hermits, 41, 222
Hervey, Bp., 180, 321, 359
Hervey de Stanton, 86, 242
Hiding-hole, 225
High-table, 15, 96
Hilda, St., 303
Hildersham, 203
Hinxton, 230
Histon, 268, 287
Hithes, 44, 194
Hobson, 21, 158
Holcroft, 288
Holme, 400
Holywell, 279
Honours, 14, 98
Horningsea, 295
Horseheath, 209
Hospital of St. John, 25, 112
Hospitallers, 258
Hostels, 12, 43
Hotham, Bp., 330, 335, 359, 363, 366
Hubert, St., 270
Huddleston, 225
Hundreds, 10
Huntingdon, 138, 278
I
Iceni, 168, 211
Ickleton, 231
Icknield Way, 171, 203, 234, 244
Indulgence, 91, 235
Ink, 336
Ireton, 272
Ireton's Way, 390
Isle of Ely, 8, 168, 282
Isleham, 183
Ivo, St., 279
J
Jacutus, St., 205
James the First, 154, 173, 403
Jesus Lane Sunday School, 162
Jewry, 10, 108
Job, 248
John, King, 12, 136, 425-430
Jowett, 129
Julitta, St., 191
Jurats, 400
K
Kendal, 166
King's Ditch, 3, 34
King's Hall, 14, 86, 101
King's Mill, 34
Kingsley, 138
Kingston, 271
Kirtling, 186
Kitchen (Trinity), 96
Kitchener, Lord, 131
Knapwell, 273
Knee-holm, 227
L
Landbeach, 296
Landwade, 176
Lantern (Ely), 356
Lantern (Trinity), 97
Lectures, 16
Lepers' Chapel, 162
Leverington, 414
Leverrier, 266
Leys School, 160
"Libellers," 403
Liber Eliensis, 303, 337
Libraries: Corpus, 38 King's, 52 Pepys, 137 Peterhouse, 26 St. John's, 44, 116 Trinity, 43, 80 Trinity Hall, 82 University, 79-82, 100
Lincoln, 298
Lingay Fen, 222
Linton, 204
Littlego, 155
"Little John," 226
Little Ouse, 399
Littleport, 387, 400
Littlington, 264, 288
Lock-up, 264
Lode, 191, 194, 300
Logan, 2, 95, 100
London Stone, 160
Long Stanton, 289
Long Vacation, 17
Lycidas, 154
Lynn, 326, 390, 399, 400, 426
M
Macaulay, 14, 107, 136
Madingley, 268
Maitland, 3, 185
"Majestas," 287, 339
Maldon, 310
Manea, 409
March, 410
Margaret, Lady, 110, 152
Margaret, Queen, 41
Mark, 318
Market Hill, 130
Marshland, 399, 411
Martial, 384
Martin V., Pope, 161, 238
Mary Stuart, 278
Mary Tudor, 97, 225
Maur, St., 252
Mayor of Cambridge, 12
May pole, 255
Mazes, 254, 352
Medhampsted, 308, 394, 396
Melbourn, 242
Meldreth, 242
Mepal, 390
Merton, 25, 142
Michael House, 14, 86
Midsummer Common, 146
Mildenhall, 185
Mildmay, 156
Milestone, 82, 160
Mill Hill, 345
Mill, St., 50
Milton, 295
Milton, John, 56, 58, 91, 154
Miserere seats, 363
Monks' Door, 356
Monks' garments, 338
Morning Talks, 36
Morton, Bp., 336, 398, 418
N
Needham Hall, 412
Needingworth, 279
Nene, 398
Neotus, St., 276
Neptune, 266
Nevile, 92, 100
Nevile's Court, 92, 94, 95
Newcastle, 390
New College, 51
Newmarket, 173, 174, 389
Newton, Isaac, 41, 91, 92, 103, 107, 265
Non-Collegiate Students, 15
Northwold, Bp. Hugh de, 307, 324, 329, 335, 359, 363, 365, 369, 371
O
Oakington, 288
Oasland, 288
Oath of Supremacy, 419
Observatory, 221, 265
Octagon, 356
Oddy, 288
Old North Road, 244
Opponencies, 14
Organs, 105
Orwell, 256
Ostorius, 172, 211
Ouse R., 277-280, 301
Outwell, 398, 411
Over, 286, 294
Overcote, 280, 295
Owen, 283, 355
P
Paley, 155
Pandiana, St., 275
Parallax, 280
Parchment, 224
Paris, Matthew, 325, 328
Park (Ely), 345
Parker, Abp., 39
Paxton, 278
Peacock, Dean, 384
Peas Hill, 130
Pembroke, 28
Penda, 175, 303
Pensioners, 15
Pepys, 137
Perne, 23
Perpendicular Architecture, 334
Perry, Bp., 105, 155, 162
Peterborough, 298, 308, 315, 373, 400
Peter Pence, 203
Peters, Hugh, 183
Philippa, Queen, 330, 348, 359
Picot, 10, 160
Pilgrim's Progress, 166
Pitt Press, 40
Pitt, William, 32
Plate, College, 31, 84, 95
Poison Cup, 84
Population, 4, 10
Posidonius, 384
Preachers' Street, 155
Premier College, 50
President, 48
Prior's Door, 353
Priory Chapel, 161
Probus, 201
Proctors, 12, 16, 125
Provost, 12, 48
Q
Quarles, 155
Queen's Lane, 50
Querela Cantabrigiensis, 31, 129
Quy, 169
R
Radegund, St., 10, 144
Railroads, 20, 203
Rampton, 298
Reach, 171, 187, 194, 196, 300
Regent Street, 159
Residence, 17
Richard the Third, 322
Ridley, Bp., 31
Ringmere, 8, 214
Roger of Wendover, 309, 324
Rolls, C. S., 91
Romney Marsh, 400
Romsey Town, 208
Roentgen, 267
Roof Climbing, 91
Rooms, 15
Roubillac, 102
Round Churches, 133
Royston, 244
Rufus, William, 336, 430
Rustication, 16
Rutherford, Professor, 267
S
Sacring Bell, 231, 294
Saffron, 209
St. Ives, 279
St. John's Farm, 382
St. Neots, 276
Sancroft, Abp., 156
Sarcophagus, 307
Sawston, 222
Scholars, 14
Schools, 14
Screens, 95, 98
Seals, 393
Sea Wall, 399, 411, 422
Sedgwick, Adam, 267
Selenite, 292, 409
Selwyn, Bp., 367
Senate House, 15, 125
Sexburga, 176, 306
Sexwulf, 392
"Shammy" Leather, 222
Sharpinhoe, 236
Shelford, 222
Shepreth, 242
Shingay, 258
Ship Money, 244
Shudy Camps, 206
Sibyl, 149
Simeon, Abbot, 319, 335, 359, 360
Simeon, Charles, 152
Simon de Montfort, 325
Slavery, 421
Snailwell, 176
Soham, 178, 180
Sophs, 96
Sound, 92
Southey, 114
Spark, Bp., 321
Spenser, 32
Spikes, 78
Stanground, 387
Stapleford, 222
Steeple Morden, 263
Stocks, 242
Stokes, Sir George, 32, 267
Stonea, 409
Stone altar, 134
Stourbridge Fair, 163-167
Stretham, 283, 298
Stuntney, 180
Suffolk, 175
Sutton, 286
Sutton Crosses, 424
Swaffham, 236
Swaffham Bulbeck, 189
Swaffham Prior, 191
Swavesey, 292
Syndicates, 125
T
Tabula Eliensis, 319
Taxers, 12
"T.B.C.," 88
Tennyson, 55, 91, 97, 102, 104
Terms, 17
Terrington, 120, 414
Teversham, 209
Thackeray, 91, 97, 107
Theodore of Tarsus, 306
Thetford, 180
Third Trinity, 88
Thirlby, Bp., 341
Thompson, 104
Thomson, Sir J. J., 267
Tillotson, Abp., 288
Tithe Barn, 381
Toft, 270
Tonbert, 169, 283
Triplow Heath, 228
Tripos, 14, 127
Trumpington, 219, 310
Trumpington Gate, 35
Turf-cutting, 196
Turner, Bp., 274, 343
Tydd, 415
U
Ulfcytel, 8, 214
"Undertakers," 403
Union, 134
University, Origin of, 11
Upper River, 220
Upware, 194, 300
Upwell, 411
V
Vacations, 17
Valence, Marie de, 30
Vandlebury, 201
Vanity Fair, 166
Vermuyden, 406
Via Devana, 21, 159, 206
Vicars Brook, 23
Vice-Chancellor, 125
Victoria, Queen, 257
Vigor, St., 210
W
Walden, 137
Wall-rue, 295
Walpole, 413, 422
Walpole Gate, 345
Walsoken, 413, 422
War Ditches, 208
Warstead Street, 209
Washington Arms, 26
Waterbeach, 289, 296
Wat Tyler, 131, 248
Waynflete, Bp., 52
Wedmore, Peace of, 8, 308
Well Stream, 399, 411, 416, 422
Welney, 411
Wendred, St., 176, 275
Wendy, 260
Wentworth, 286
West, Bp., 332, 335, 367
Westcott House, 148
Westley Waterless, 188
Westminster College, 142
Westmorland, 166
Weston Colville, 188
Westry, 411
West Walton, 413, 422
Whalley, 272
Whewell, 104, 108
White Hill, 236
Whitgift, Abp., 124
Whittlesea, 410
Whittlesford, 227
Wicken Fen, 180, 300
Wilbraham, 210
Wilburton, 283
Wilfrid, St., 303, 393
Will of Henry the Sixth, 52
Williams, Bp., 116
Willingham, 286, 290
Wimpole, 256
Wireless Telegraphy, 267
Wisbech, 399, 403, 415, 426
Wisbech, John of, 331
Witchford, 286, 318
Woad, 417
Wood Ditton, 171, 187
Wordsworth, 55, 101, 102, 113, 118
Wranglers, 14
Wren, Bp., 25, 189, 209, 342
Wren, Christopher, 30, 43, 360
Y
Yaxley, 400
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=Sussex.= By E. V. LUCAS. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=Berkshire.= By JAMES EDMUND VINCENT. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=Oxford and the Cotswolds.= By H. A. EVANS. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=Shakespeare's Country.= By The Ven. W. H. HUTTON. With Illustrations by EDMUND H. NEW.
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=Hampshire.= By D. H. MOUTRAY READ. With Illustrations by ARTHUR B. CONNOR.
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=Wiltshire.= By EDWARD HUTTON. With Illustrations by NELLY ERICHSEN.
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=Somerset.= By EDWARD HUTTON. With Illustrations by NELLY ERICHSEN.
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=Devon and Cornwall.= By ARTHUR H. NORWAY. With Illustrations by JOSEPH PENNELL and HUGH THOMSON.
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=South Wales.= By A. G. BRADLEY. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=North Wales.= By A. G. BRADLEY. With Illustrations by HUGH THOMSON and JOSEPH PENNELL.
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=Cambridge and Ely.= By Rev. EDWARD CONYBEARE. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=East Anglia.= By WILLIAM A. DUTT. With Illustrations by JOSEPH PENNELL.
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=Nottinghamshire.= By J. B. FIRTH. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=Northamptonshire and Rutland.= By HERBERT A. EVANS. With Illustrations by FREDERICK L. GRIGGS.
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=Galloway and Carrick.= By the Rev. C. H. DICK. With Illustrations by HUGH THOMSON.
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=Donegal and Antrim.= By STEPHEN GWYNN. With Illustrations by HUGH THOMSON.
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[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained.
Text enclosed in = is printed in bold in the book.
Letters preceded by a ^ are superscribt.
Page 117: "Last year (1809)" has been corrected to "Last year (1909)".
Page 343: The footnote 223 present there has no anchor in the text.]