Category: Travel Writing
_Many years ago it occurred to this writer that it would be an interesting thing to write and illustrate a book on the Road to Brighton. The genesis of that thought has been forgotten, but the book was written and published, and has long been out of print. And there might have...
Robinson Crusoe, weary of his island solitude, sighed, so the poet tells us, for "the midst of alarms." He should have chosen the Brighton Road; for ever since it has been a roa...
14. Part 14Many were the merry "mills" which "came off" at Crawley Downs, Copthorne Common, and Blindley Heath, attended by the Prince and his merry men, conspicuous among whom at differen...
17. Part 17The Coverts are gone; their heraldic shields, in company of an architectural frieze of greyhounds' and leopards' heads and skulls of oxen wreathed in drapery, still decorate wha...
16. Part 16Returning to the exploited main road. Friar's Oak is soon reached. It was selected by Sir Conan Doyle as one of the scenes of his Regency story, "Rodney Stone"; but since the ye...
15. Part 15"Rookwood," the fantastic and gory tale that first gave Harrison Ainsworth a vogue, was commenced in 1831, but not completed until 1834. Ainsworth died at Reigate, January 3, 18...
2. Part 2The character of George the Fourth has been the theme of writers upon history and sociology, of essayists, diarists, and gossip-mongers without number, and most of them have pic...
12. Part 12Mitcham is at present beyond these brick and mortar tentacles, and is grouped not unpicturesquely about a village green and along the road to the Wandle. Pleasant, ruddy-faced s...
13. Part 13He seems to have been afraid of hurting himself, for he died neither of poison nor of wounds, and was duly taken to Tyburn in a handsome mourning coach, accompanied by his mothe...
11. Part 11Merstham is as pretty a village as Surrey affords, and typically English. Railways have not abated, nor these turbid times altered in any great measure, its fine air of aristocr...
4. Part 4On February 4th, 1834, the "Criterion," driven by Charles Harbour, outstripping the old performances of the "Vivid," and beating the previous wonderfully quick journey of the "R...
10. Part 10Tooke, whose real name was Horne, was born in 1736, the son of a poulterer. At twenty-four years of age he became a clergyman, and was appointed to the living of New Brentford,...
9. Part 9The explorer of the Brighton Road who comes, by whatever method of progression he pleases, into Croydon, finds its busy centre at what is still called North End. The name surviv...
8. Part 8But if its history is not long, its site has a horrid kind of historic association, for the building stands on what was a portion of Kennington Common, the exact spot where the...
3. Part 3Numerous coaches ran to meet the demands of the travelling public, and these continually increased in number and improved in speed. About this time first appear the firms of Hen...
6. Part 6Selby's memorable drive put cyclists upon their mettle, but not at once was any determined attempt made to better it. The dwarf rear-driving "safety" bicycle, the "Rover," which...
18. Part 18Practical joking was elevated to the status of a fine art at Brighton by the Prince and his merry men. A characteristic story of him is that told of a drive to Brighton races, w...
1. Part 1_Many years ago it occurred to this writer that it would be an interesting thing to write and illustrate a book on the Road to Brighton. The genesis of that thought has been for...
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