From London to Lands End | Page 8

two we enter Basingstoke, in the midst of woods and pastures, rich
and fertile, and the country accordingly spread with the houses of the
nobility and gentry, as in other places. On the right hand, a little before
we come to the town, we pass at a small distance the famous fortress,
so it was then, of Basing, being a house belonging then to the Marquis
of Winchester, the great ancestor of the present family of the Dukes of
Bolton.
This house, garrisoned by a resolute band of old soldiers, was a great
curb to the rebels of the Parliament party almost through that whole
war; till it was, after a vigorous defence, yielded to the conquerors by
the inevitable fate of things at that time. The old house is, indeed,
demolished but the successor of the family, the first Duke of Bolton,
has erected a very noble fabric in the same place, or near it, which,
however, is not equal to the magnificence which fame gives to the
ancient house, whose strength of building only, besides the outworks,
withstood the battery of cannon in several attacks, and repulsed the
Roundheads three or four times when they attempted to besiege it. It is
incredible what booty the garrison of this place picked up, lying as they
did just on the great Western Road, where they intercepted the carriers,
plundered the waggons, and suffered nothing to pass--to the great
interruption of the trade of the city of London,
Basingstoke is a large populous market-town, has a good market for
corn, and lately within a very few years is fallen into a manufacture,
viz., of making druggets and shalloons, and such slight goods, which,
however, employs a good number of the poor people, and enables them
to get their bread, which knew not how to get it before.
From hence the great Western Road goes on to Whitchurch and
Andover, two market-towns, and sending members to Parliament; at
the last of which the Downs, or open country, begins, which we in

general, though falsely, call Salisbury Plain. But my resolution being to
take in my view what I had passed by before, I was obliged to go off to
the left hand, to Alresford and Winchester.
Alresford was a flourishing market-town, and remarkable for this-- that
though it had no great trade, and particularly very little, if any,
manufactures, yet there was no collection in the town for the poor, nor
any poor low enough to take alms of the parish, which is what I do not
think can be said of any town in England besides.
But this happy circumstance, which so distinguished Alresford from all
her neighbours, was brought to an end in the year -, when by a sudden
and surprising fire the whole town, with both the church and the
market-house, was reduced to a heap of rubbish; and, except a few poor
huts at the remotest ends of the town, not a house left standing. The
town is since that very handsomely rebuilt, and the neighbouring
gentlemen contributed largely to the relief of the people, especially by
sending in timber towards their building; also their market-house is
handsomely built, but the church not yet, though we hear there is a fund
raising likewise for that.
Here is a very large pond, or lake of water, kept up to a head by a
strong BATTER D'EAU, or dam, which the people tell us was made by
the Romans; and that it is to this day part of the great Roman highway
which leads from Winchester to Alton, and, as it is supposed, went on
to London, though we nowhere see any remains of it, except between
Winchester and Alton, and chiefly between this town and Alton.
Near this town, a little north-west, the Duke of Bolton has another seat,
which, though not large, is a very handsome beautiful palace, and the
gardens not only very exact, but very finely situate, the prospect and
vistas noble and great, and the whole very well kept.
From hence, at the end of seven miles over the Downs, we come to the
very ancient city of Winchester; not only the great church (which is so
famous all over Europe, and has been so much talked of), but even the
whole city has at a distance the face of venerable, and looks ancient
afar off; and yet here are many modern buildings too, and some very
handsome; as the college schools, with the bishop's palace, built by
Bishop Morley since the late wars-- the old palace of the bishop having
been ruined by that known church incendiary Sir William Waller and
his crew of plunderers, who, if my information is not wrong, as I

believe it is not, destroyed more monuments of the dead, and