| Show WAXE kANS LONDON june 19 there is no place olace in england where chere such a fine example of the very ancient stone built village may be found as at broadway broad way the Bradwe ia of years ago which nestles against the lower slope of the northie nort northwestern hwe tern face of the cotswold Cots wold hills ills overlooking the lovely vale of Vv everham evesham Ev esham the many fabled gabled lygon arms a delicious resort for or americans and english artists and other genuine epicures epi cures for food scenery and charming antiquities is the most ancient of all the structures 0 of f the slumberous old mountain town T the h e precise structure standing here today is known wn to have been occupied as an inn for or upwards of years it s charmingly picturesque without and its its interior is most quaintly arranged with odd nooks and corners while th the first floor of the east wing has a fine old room with a curiously carved chi chimney niney piece in stone other interesting ornamentation and a wondrous pa lot kt of charming traditions about the great e t folk some on desperate business acta ake e charles I 1 in 1645 and cromwell an fn m 1651 who have lodged within it broadway way itself is the sweetest old english ish pastoral village idyl to be found in england and to me this ancient hostel hostelry ryo with its tudor chimneys its many gables and dormers dommers dor mers its stow mone and iron fi nials mullioned ned win dows bows and bays its fine old ingles and fireplaces with its stone walls thick as a forts massed with creepers and vines is its warmest and r mellowese mellowest mel nel lowest page I 1 the old cathedral city possesses several very ancient inns which are still in use two of which are regarded as among the most interest ing sights of the place by all foreign travelers one of these the new inn is an extras extraordinary r d i nary relic of very ancient times and dee deeply ply interesting from its great age its historical associations and Us its extremely picturesque character its architecture having many features in common with the larger and distinctly moresque inns of spain and portugal readers of history will recall that the splendid south aisle of Glouceste rs magnificent cathedral was built in 1318 by abbott jhc thc okey during the period of whose abbacy the body of murdered king edward II 11 which had been refused interment in the abbeys of mal medbury mes mc bury abury kingswood and bristol was given en burial bunal within it great pilgrimages fes to edwards tomb and wonderfully I 1 ily ay increased mcrea sed revenues to the then abbey church resulted the throngs were sometimes so enormous that the wj city could not shelter them and they we were ire obliged to encamp at night outside the gates A shrewd old monk named john burnius Tur taking proper advantage of the situation in in 1450 under the abbacy an and wit with the sanction and d assistance of the famous abbot tho thomas Sea broke buit built the new inn which at the time douht doubtless less had no superior as a public hostelry in europe think of taking your ease in your inn as you can do in the new inn of gloucester today in a tavern which has survived the changes of years and never been closed a day the quaint old place is so cunningly hidden bidden behind the grim walls of northgate street that the casual straggler not gate having it in actual quest would be for innate enough indeed if his glance i penetrated the deep dark archway separating it from the street and fell upon the charming old world scene within I 1 can never forget my own experience when wholly ignorant of the spot ot and of all of dear old gloucester sor for that matter I 1 had come after a wearisome tramp down the malvern hills and without object or purpose was leaning against the corner of this same dark archway for a bit of rest turning in a vagrant way to depart a coaching party dashed gaily past me through the e archway my eyes followed the cavalcade and then my legs begs followed my gladd gladdening ening i eyes what an exquisite pleasure was in that sense of original discovery of a place so picturesque and old how hesitantly tan Y I 1 tiptoed about that fine and ancient courtyard feasting on this and that like a covetous intruder and when I 1 found these were pictures for the reckoning of even three pennyworth of entertainment with what delight did 1 I 1 luxuriate at the bow window of the fine old coffee room ordering this and that which I 1 did not want and tipping the waiter so immoderately m that he sent another and that abit one another but taxing them all with questions so that they gasped between answers and finally wound up by settling an advance score which removed all doubts of responsibility if not of sanity while ordering my luggage to the qu ainest old room with the loquacity of a bridegroom and the bravery of a lord I 1 around the entire three stories of the inner court which is is very spacious run upon all the dormitories open precisely as with the spanish patio or court while the half story of the peaked roof is broken into dormers dommers dor mers hooded with pretty tiling and their faces set like the border of an old womans comans cap with simple but wondrous ornamentation the most picturesque of old stairs and landings lead from one story to the other huge iron ornamentations many cast with sacred emblems in view of its original pilgrim character are found promiscuous ly attached to the doors windows a and n d ceilings angles and bows diamond shaped panes in leaden frames are fommon common casement and little swinging windows are everywhere throughout the structure niches for effigies effi gies and carved crosses have not yet been hidden by time and change opposite the street archway is another lesser but picturesque archway with the entire facade of the rear side of the quadrangle above showing as gaint quaint and dreamful a scene of rest ulness and antiquity as can be found in europe through this is reached the stable yard now restricted to accommodation for sixt sixty Y horses in olden times it could care f for or hundreds of animals as folk of quality in the time ot of the king edward pilgrimages invariably came on horseback everything about the new inn is queer and quaint and old never elsewhere was seen such a radiant jumble of od odd d corners little arches protruding upper stories peepholes peep holes of windows ga babies 1 S offices os tries taprooms taproots tap rooms and w wealth 1 of vines and foliage and grave unctuous waiters and chubby cheeked checked kitchen maids housemaids house maids and bar maids to heighten the mysteries cheer and charm of the typical old english inn ded old bowes in northern adi shire alongside what what was called the great north road possesses one of the finest specimens of the ample roadside inns of the olden coaching days to be found in all england the village and this inn have always h hadi adt for me the weirdest weir dest fascination of an any provincial spot in britain though boak both hamlet and inn are aee now dreary and desolate beyond description the old inn here now called the unicorn was first known as the george eight coaches bound either to london or glasgow daily changed horses in its great yard in the good old coach coaching log days da it is to this inn that charlies charles birens dickens with a great and merciful motive in fiction repaired with his friend and companion bablot browne a few weeks before christmas of 1837 2857 where the two remained while dickens secured material for nicholas he had letters to a yeoman of the place soon to shine as one of the im i m of fiction as honest john ohn grow browdie die 11 he represented hims himself if as agent of a poor widow desirous adf placing her only boy in a quiet country school in this thi s way he secured admission to a number in the vicinity though shut out of some by the wary masters the school seeming mast suitable as a prototype of them all from the personnel of its savage owner and his fam ly with wild and desolate physical surroundings surrounding S in kee keeping ng with hopelessness of the school life lite of the place i self was the Dothe boys hall haill still standing in bowes hardly a stones throw from the ancient unicorn inn house bei being na slow now occupied by man bansfield Bons neld field husband of the veritable daughter fanny known in in life as mary ann shaw where nicholas his in misery the wretched smile 11 and scores of other helpless youad young lives are depicted as having undergone an ax almost ost inconceivable life of servi servitude tudie starvation and cruelty investigations showed that the horrible picture drawn was not an exah eftig aeration ge ration and bore out dickens own statement in the original preface thit that mr and his school are faint 4 ir and feeble pictures of an existing reality beyl it 1 purposely ur subdued and kept down lest they should be deemed impossible this dickens sec second md ans and ija some respects his greatest novel wap wv begun in april 1838 and finished in october 1839 at the appearance of the first part he ran away from london 1 as he always did to remain in hiding until a distinct measure of public favor or disfavor was shown tn it the case of ONi nicholas cholas M his 1 forgivable skulking was of short duration N the first days sale of the first part exceeded copies not aim ix months had pa parsed sed before the torture and cruelty of helpless scholars fu fia these remote prison pens were abated and before the last chapter of ni nicholas c ho fa had bad been read feeling which in many portions of 61 tahe J c country auntry barely escaped express expression Ja riot not had annihilated every wl child hell of the Dothe boys hall variety in england eaf land if you came from london to bowes over the same coach road as didt did nicholas wh when hearit nearing the end of his bis dreary journey at t about 6 that night he be andl ad sar and the little boys and their the ir united au luggage gage were put down clown at the george ang and new inn you would have come by the old bolh coach road from london to edinburgh and glasgow on leaving the ancient city of york you would mould have struck into a highway 2000 2000 years old masses ol of roman legions have swept tide on tide back and forth over the same stone road stern agricola the courtly tacitus and emperor servius himself have ridden towards the unconquerable north upon it the latter left of his army dead among the scotch mists and mou mountains n and with his lace face set towards rome and home only reached york to die of his wounds avd and chagrin it is the great roman road of england wailing or Waith ling n street it is called away in the no north tt of yorkshire a few miles above ca bridge one stern stem of this highway goes on through durham and northumberland langland lan cland and thence to edinburgh the other swings around to the westward Ar traversing aversing westmoreland and cumber land through carlisle to the great wall which once protected bri Br iain ain from the caledonian hordes and thence n a more modern coach road winds through the olden lovers haven gretna green to glasgow on this western stem between the rivers rivers tees and greta at the eastern ed edge e of Stan emoor nearly surrounded by leso deso late moors and in the northwest corner of yorkshire lies what is left of bowes it is difficult not to wander away from a the old unicorn inn at bowes among the literary and antiquarian things of interest in its neighborhood the inn its if must not be confounded even under its old name of the george with the george inn of greta bridge six miles nearer york now used as a corn mill to disguise the he exact location of Dothe boys hall pickens Tic kens made shaw travel with young three miles from ahe george inn at greta bri bri ge to the supposititious hall follone fo I 1 e I 1 by bv the icar cartload cart load of infant misery what they really did do was to di dismount all together from the york and carlisle coach within the of this thi s very unicorn and then shiver along the crooked cobbled single street of bowes until they arrived at the long cold looking house 11 a little way beyond to the e west and a tall lean boy poor with a lantern in his hand issued forth the unicorn which seems to have completely escaped the attention of english antiquarians and travelers is not only remarkable from its associations eions in having been the most important inn near the border between york and glasgow and edinburgh in olden times but in also being the largest of those ancient english roadside hostelries still extant which were called into existence bythe by th necessities of travel in the old coaching days at its very door the royal mail began the ascent over the great north road of weird dreary and vast Stan Stane emoor peopled only by witch and warlock silent ever save from howling tempests and with no semblance of humans upon it save at its desolate top where william the conqueror and malcolm of scotland fought dreadfully and long to decide the boundaries of their respective kingdoms and then wisely stopped and feasted Je asted sensibly deciding that on the very spot should be raised the great roi now fere ere cross or cross av oft kings on one side aide of which was graven the image mage of william and on the other that of at malcolm but years have eaten these old faces away and none others will be seen until kirkby stephen nestling in the valley on the other side towards ancient penrith and carlisle is reached all of which gave travelers cheer at the unicorn a s special ecial zest not unmixed with a tinge of gread dread its form is of a double quadrangle each fully feet square the one next the street has its entire front open to the great inn yard thus formed the two sides abutting the street comprised respectively the inn proper a long two storied and stone structure with a perfect maze of curious old rooms approached by outlandish stairs entries and landings and rendered additionally bewildering by countless coun iless niches cupboards alcoves and blind panels and the other a huge brew house with dozens of granaries and store rooms behind the side opposite the street provided offices and sleeping accommodations for guards post boys whips and all those inn helpers concerned in working the coaches or dealing with the tired cattle of the many travelers traveler 4 on horseback merchandise packers and passing between england and scotland a century centry ago in this quadrangle are also many open stone sheds with tiled roofs stone feed boxes and neat slanted cobblestone floors where private vehicles and could find temporary shelter in in great numbers and in the center of this quadrangle set about with stone drinking troughs is the most tremendous ancient pump I 1 have found in england still creakingly serving the scanty uses of the present degenerate days the quadrangle behind the inn yard vard is formed by bv what remains of the ancient stone stables where scores of pairs ot of post horses could have found comfortable quarters and as many more carters and packers cattle have good shelter andrare and care in the hostel proper the huge old kitchen must have quite equaled the famous ancient kitchen of old st marys hall coventry there are still to be seen a half dozen coffee and breakfast rooms low with deep window seats quaint cupboards and odd old oak paneling where guests were served in parties and groups instead of in a cornmon common bonhall hall there areton are tons sand and tons of lead in the roof gutters I 1 about the window frames and still firmly holding the ancient tiny panes of glass little old parlors and sitting rooms with curious windows and most ancient stucco work are still recognizable but most interest interesting inK of all and illustrating the customs of that early time is a tiny taproom opening into the rear of the it has low oaken settles built stationary into wall and |
