- “Ye Olde Rover’s Return,” Manchester
The tottering, crazy-looking tavern called “Ye Olde Rover’s Return,” on Shude Hill, claiming to be the “oldest beer-house in the city,” and additionally said once to have been an old farmhouse “where the Cow was kept that supplied Milk to The Men who built the ‘Seven Stars" - Young Conifers and hardy fine-leaved Plants
- Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, 'A Minute Before Twelve'
- Where the Poor Live
The presence of aliens and their competition also lowers the already sufficiently low rate of wages. Houses, therefore, in these localities—once tenanted by a single family—are let off at exorbitant rates to as many as can be crammed into them. Lucky, indeed, is the married labourer who can anywhere secure a single room for{281} 4s. to 6s. a week. And such a room! No means of preparing a real meal, the family fare generally consisting of tea, “two-eyed steaks” (herrings), and a “couple of doorsteps” (two slices of bread) per head. - Went over bank and hedge
- We Met the Loose Horse Tearing Down the Hill
- Waggon of the second half of the Seventeenth Century
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Toynbee Hall and St. Jude’s Church
- Tower in the Earlier Style. Church at Earl's Barton
- Tomb of Edward III. in Westminster Abbey
- The “Dick Whittington,” Cloth Fair
The City of London’s oldest licensed inn is, by its own claiming, the “Dick Whittington,” in Cloth Fair, Smithfield, but it only claims to have been licensed in the fifteenth century, when it might reasonably—without much fear of contradiction—have made it a century earlier. This is an unusual modesty, fully deserving mention. It is only an “inn” by courtesy, for, however interesting and picturesque the grimy, tottering old lath-and-plaster house may be to the stranger, imagination does not picture any one staying either in the house or in Cloth Fair itself while other houses and other neighbourhoods remain to choose from; and, indeed, the “Dick Whittington”[Pg 6] does not pretend to be anything else than a public-house. The quaint little figure at the angle, in the gloom of the overhanging upper storey, is one of the queer, unconventional imaginings of our remote forefathers, and will repay examination. - The Trumpeter
THE TRUMPETER.” (SIR JOHN GILBERT, R.A.) (Drawn in pen and ink, from his picture in the Royal Academy, 1883.) [Size of drawing, 5½ by 4¾ in. Photo-zinc process.] - The Tower of London
Of all the prisoners who suffered death at the termination of their captivity in the Tower, there is none whose fate was so cruel as that of Lady Jane Grey. Her story belongs to English history. Recall, when next you visit the Tower, the short and tragic life of this young Queen of a nine days' reign. - The Team Gathered
- The Team Extended
- The Shooting-Gallery
- The Roadside Inn
- The Oldest Inhabited house in England
The “Fighting Cocks” inn at St. Albans, down by the river Ver, below the Abbey, claims to be—not the oldest inn—but the oldest inhabited house, in the kingdom: a pretension that does not appear to be based on anything more than sheer impudence. - The Old Lychgate, Penshurst
- The New Whitechapel Art Gallery
(The building to the right is a free library.) Some of the people, but not many, go off westward and wander about the halls of the British Museum. I do not know why they go there, because ancient Egypt is to them no more than modern Mexico, and the Etruscan vases are no more interesting than the “Souvenir of Margate,” which costs a penny. But they do go; they roam from room to room with listless indifference, seeing nothing. In the same spirit of curiosity, baffled yet satisfied, they go to the South Kensington Museum and gaze upon its treasures of art; or they go to the National Portrait Gallery, finding in Queen Anne Boleyn a striking likeness to their own Maria, but otherwise not profiting in any discoverable manner by the contents of the gallery. And some of them go to the National Gallery, where there are pictures which tell stories. - The New Model Dwellings
- The Lepers Begging
Leprosy is supposed to have had its origin in Egypt: the laws laid down in the Book of Leviticus for the separation of lepers are stringent and precise: it was believed, partly, no doubt, on account of these statutes in the Book of the Jewish Law, that the disease was brought into Western Europe by the Crusaders; but this was erroneous, because it was in this country before the Crusaders. Thus the Palace of St. James stands upon the site of a lazar house founded before the Conquest for fourteen leprous maidens. - The Last Days of the 'Swan with Two Necks'
The “Swan with Two Necks,” whence many coaches set out, until the end of such things, was often known by waggish people as the “Wonderful Bird,” and obtained its name from a perversion of the “Swan with Two Nicks”: swans that swam the upper Thames and were the property of the Vintners’ Company being marked on their bills with two nicks, for identification. Lad Lane is now “Gresham Street,” but, apart from its mere name, is a lane still; but the old buildings of the “Swan with Two Necks” were pulled down in 1856. - The Kitchen of a Country Inn, 1797
The Kitchen of a Country Inn, 1797: showing the Turnspit Dog. (From the engraving after Rowlandson) - The Keep of Barnard Castle
The outer ditch of the place, also the town ditch, commenced in a deep ravine close north of the keep, and was carried along the north front, skirting what are called “the Flats”; thence along the east front, between the wall and the town, and thence round the south end, and so beneath a part of the west front, until it is lost in the steep ground near the bridge, having been altogether nearly 700 yards in length. - The Globe Theatre
The first theatre was built in 1570. Thirty years after there were seven. The Queen had companies of children to play before her. They were the boys of the choirs of St. Paul's, Westminster, Whitehall, and Windsor. The actors called themselves the servants of some great lord. Lord Leicester, Lord Warwick, Lord Pembroke, Lord Howard, the Earl of Essex, and others all had their company of actors—not all at the same time. The principal Houses were those at Southwark, and especially at Bank Side, where there were three, including the famous Globe - The George Hotel, Ruislip
Round about “Riselip,” as its inhabitants call it, they grow hay, cabbages, potatoes, and other useful, if humble, vegetables; and, by dint of great patience and industry, manage to get them up to the London market. It is only at rare intervals that the villagers ever see a railway engine, for Ruislip is far remote from railways, and so the place and people keep their local character.Two or three remarkably quaint inns face the central space round which the old and new cottages are grouped, and the very large church stands modestly behind, its battlemented tower peering over the tumbled roofs and gable-ends with a fine effect, an effect that would be still finer were it not that the miserably poor “restoration” work of the plastered angles, done by that dreadful person, Sir Gilbert Scott, is only too apparent. - The Extra Coach at Christmas
- The Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover, 1520
(From the original painting at Hampton Court.) - The East London Mission
- The Bridge of Hope
“The Bridge of Hope,” a Well-known East End Night Refuge. - The 'Running Horse,' Leatherhead
A hundred and fifty years later than Piers Plowman we get another picture of an English ale-house, by no less celebrated a poet. This famous house, the “Running Horse,” still stands at Leatherhead, in Surrey, beside the long, many-arched bridge that there crosses the river Mole at one of its most picturesque reaches. It was kept in the time of Henry the Seventh by that very objectionable landlady, Elynor Rummyng, whose peculiarities are the subject of a laureate’s verse. - Temple Bar, London
(Built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1670; taken down in 1878 and since rebuilt at Waltham Cross.) - South-east Part of London in the Fifteenth Century, showing the Tower and Wall
- Sir Francis Drake, in his Forty-third Year
- Sign of the 'Sir Jeffrey Amherst'
On the other side of the highway, swinging romantically from the branches of a great Scotch fir, is the picture-sign of the house, bearing the legend, “Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Crown Point,” and showing the half-length portrait of a very determined-looking warrior, clad in armour and apparently deep in thought; while in the background is a broad river, across whose swift current boat-loads of soldiers, in the costume of two centuries ago, are being rowed. - Sign of the 'Running Horse'
Why the crowd resorted thus to tipple the horrible compound does not appear: one would rather drink the usual glucose and dilute sulphuric acid of modern times. The pictorial sign of the old house still proudly declares— “When Skelton wore the laurel crown My ale put all the alewives down.” To do that, you would think, it must needs have been both good and cheap. Certainly, if the portrait-sign of Elynor be anything like her, customers did not resort to the “Running Horse” to bask in her smiles, for she is represented as a very plain, not to say ugly, old lady with a predatory nose plentifully studded with warts. - Shipping in the Thames, circa 1660
(From Pricke's 'South Prospect of London.') - Shady and sheltered Dell
Shady and sheltered Dell, with Tree Ferns and other Stove Plants placed out for the summer. - Seven Stars
The famous “Seven Stars”, in Withy Grove, proudly bearing on its front the statement that it has been licensed over 560 years, and is the oldest licensed house in Great Britain. - Saxon Horsemen
(Harl. MS. 603.) - Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts
- Royal Arms of England from Richard I. to Edward III
(From the wall arcade, south aisle of nave, Westminster Abbey.) - Romans teaching the Britons to Build
The Romans built many cities, the names of some of which you know, such as London, and York, and Bath. They taught the people how to plough the fields and to sow corn, that they might have bread to eat. They brought to the country many fruits and vegetables which were quite new to the poor Britons. They showed them how to spin and to weave, and soon they left off dyeing their skins, and began to clothe themselves like their masters; and when they saw the houses which were built by the Romans, they left their dark caves and their rude huts. The Britons were also taught to read and to write, and to speak the Roman language. Nor should I forget to tell you, that the cruel Druids were all destroyed by one of the Roman generals. - Roman London
- Remains of the Wall
The City was thus protected by a great wall pierced by a few gates, with bastions and towers. At the East End after the Norman Conquest rose the Great White Tower still standing. At the West End was a tower called Montfichet's Tower. - Plan of Barnard Castle
BARNARD, or Bernard’s, Castle, so called from its founder, Bernard de Baliol, stands in a commanding position on the left bank of the Tees, here the boundary between Durham and Yorkshire. It is a large castle, and was long a very important one, both from its position on the frontier of the bishopric, and from the power of the great barons who built and maintained it. A. Inner Ward. B. Middle Ward. C. Town Ward. D. Outer Ward. E. North Gate. F. Brackenbury’s Tower. G. Round Tower. - Plan of Alnwick Castle
THE castle of Alnwick stands upon a moderate eminence on the south bank of, and about 150 yards distant from, the river Alne, which was thus its immediate defence against the Scot. It is about five miles from, and about 200 feet above, the sea-level. Towards the east and south the castle is cut off from the town of Alnwick by a deep combe, once the bed of the Bow Burn. This has been trimmed and scarped by art, and its upper part towards the town has been almost obliterated by modern upfilling. 1. Donjon. 2. Inner Ward. 3. Outer Ward. 4. Terrace. 5. Stable Courts. 6. Kitchen. 7. Estate Offices. 8. Ravine. 9. Ditch. 10. Tower. 11. Inner Gate. 12. Middle Gate. 13. Barbican. 14. Hall. 15. Withdrawing-room. 16. Music-room. 17. Ante-room. 18. Library. Prudhoe Tower. 19. Chapel. 20. State Bedroom. 21. Entrance. 22. Spur Gallery. 23. West Garret. 24. Abbot’s Tower. 25. Falconer’s Tower. 26. Postern Tower. 27. Constable’s Tower. 28. Ravine Tower. 29. Hotspur’s Chair. 30. East Garret. 31. Warder’s Tower. 32. Auditor’s Tower. 33. Clock Tower. 34. Avener’s Tower. 35. Garden. - Paul Pindar's House
- Part of the Roman Wall at Leicester
- Ordinary Dress of Gentlemen in 1675
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Ordinary Attire of Women of the Lower Classes
(From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.') - Once More Running a Steeplechase
- On Margate Sands
The August bank-holiday is a repetition of Whit-Monday, without the freshness of that early summer day. By the end 304of July the foliage of the trees has become dark and heavy; the best of the flowers are over in field as well as garden; the sadness of autumn is beginning. All through the summer, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, the excursion trains are running in all directions, but especially to the seaside; the excursion steamers run to Southend, Walton, Margate, and Ramsgate. For those who stay at home there are the East-End parks, Victoria Park, West Ham Park, Finsbury Park, Clissold Park, Wanstead Park. They are thronged with people strolling or sitting quietly along the walks. All these parks are alike in their main features; they are laid out in walks and avenues planted with trees; they contain broad tracts of green turf; there is an inclosure for cricket; sometimes there is a gymnasium, and there is an ornamental water, generally very pretty, with rustic bridges, swans, and boats let out for hire. Where there is no park, as at Wapping and Poplar by the riverside, there are recreation grounds. In all of them a band of music plays on stated evenings. - Old St. Paul's, from the East
- Old St. Paul's on Fire
- Old London Bridge
Houses were erected in course of time along the Bridge on either side like a street, but with intervals; and along the roadway in the middle were chain posts to protect the passengers. As the Bridge was only 40 feet wide the houses must have been small. But they were built out at the back overhanging the river, and the roadway itself was not intended for carts or wheeled vehicles. Remember that everything was brought to the City on pack horse or pack ass. The table of Tolls sanctioned by King Edward I. makes no mention of cart or waggon at all. Men on horseback and loaded horses can get along with a very narrow road. Perhaps we may allow twelve feet for the road which gives for the houses on either side a depth of 14 feet each. - Obstruction on the Bridge
- Norman Crossbowmen
- Mrs Hemans