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ST. ALBANS.
BY MOTOR BUS FROM GOLDER'S GREEN, UNDERGROUND
STATION
O travel from London to St. Albans by road is to enhance the
pleasures of a visit to one of the most ancient of English cities by
journey through hedgerows and green fields, along highways
at in the past ages resounded with the tramp of Roman legions and
witnessed the coming of the Saxon in quest of a new home.
OURNEY.
We board the motor-bus at Golder’s Green Station, proceed past the
Garden Suburb and the fields of Hendon, Tally Ho Corner to Whetstone,
still but a village. Beyond the road goes down into a great hollow,
with views of Totteridge ‘and the tower of Barnet Church crowning the
hill-top in the distance ahead. Now we pass into a wedge of Hertford-
coaches came and went ‘ily.
A brief haltis made by the church, thence on to the end of the High
Street, leaving the Great North Road, and turning left along the New
Road. Keeping us company, first on one hand and then on the other,
is a rough lanc—the Old Road to St. Albans, beloved by the gipsy and
the wayside wanderer.
efore us Ridge Hill slopes up to the horizon. From this top we
catch our first glimpse of St. Al
nd so to London Colney, the ‘next village. A bridge carries the
highway across the Colne.
s now a level three miles’ run to St. Albans, then we are in the
Market Place of St. Albans and at our journey’s end.
THE Ciry AND ITs MEMoRIALS.
The Market Place is a feature of great interest, for here was the
Cursus of ancient Verulamium
Beside the Town Hae is French Row, a reminder of the soldiers of
Louis the Dauphin. “Fleur-de-Lys” King John of France was
lodged for a time after his capture at Poictiers by the Black Prince. On
the corner stands the old Clock Tower, built in 1410 to hold the city’s
Curfew be
Opposite the Clock tow er a passage leads to the Abbey. The first
Norman abbot, Paul of Caen, began its erection in 1077 with materials
which had been collected from the ruins of Verulamium. Throughout
the Middle Ages the Abbey was a great seat of learning ; i compiled
the most valuable records we possess of the early hist of our
country ; it set up the third press in Britain ; and was first to print the
Bible.
n the west the t Gat of tl now tl
School, Stands atone i ore ita short lane leads south to the site of
Verulamium. By the bridge crossing the Ver is the “ Fighting Cocks,”
an inn claiming °, te the oldest inhabited house in England, as well it
might be, for it was a gate of King Offa's monastery in Saxon days. In
the meadows sloping up from the stream are some fragments of the
Roman wall, the last visible remnants of Verulamium.
own beneath the turf lie the ruins of what was once the finest
Roman city in Britain.
Descending St. Stephen's Hill, and turning right along Prospect
Road, the ruins of Sopwell Nunnery will be reached. At Sopwell the
traveller should return to the city by way of Holywell Hill, and after a
ramble among the old streets, return to the Market Place for the bus
back to Lond
KEW GARDENS.
IKE several other domains which are now national institutions,
Kew Gardens have been inherited from the Royal family. Under
the control of Sir Joseph Banks, the famous naturalist and botanist
who had accompanied Captain Cook in the Endeavour to the South
Seas, the Royal Gardens attained world-wide fame and pre-eminence.
In 1841 they were established as a national institution, with Sir William
Hooker as Director. Sir William proved a worthy successor fo Sir
Joseph Banks, and many great i ere
Numerous rare and beautiful plants 1 were brought to Kew from the
unexplored lands by the Collectors.
The authorities at Kew are the advisers of the Government on all
questions relating to plant life throughout the Empire. Among the more
notable transplantings of recent years may be cited the introduction of
the cinchona (quinine) tree into India from South America, and of Para
rubber into the Malay States from Brazil.
Many of the fairest spots in the Gardens are contiguous to the Kew
Road, for here are the Wild Garden around the Temple of /olus, the
charming Rock Garden, the fragrant Rose Pergola, the Iris Garden, the
Herbaceous Ground. In the woodlands bordering the Old Deer Park
stands the little thatched house built by George HI. This is probably
the most beautiful corner of the Gardens when, in May, the bluebells
shimmer under the shade of the trees. Near by, in the Pinetum, is the
exquisite Lily Pond.
At Kew the student of history may read the story of the trees and
their associations with man. Here the great Cedar of Lebanon, of
which the Pheenicians built their ships and Solomon his temple ; there
the massive oak, of which we English wrought our ‘‘ wooden walls" in
days gone by ; spreading Oriental-planes which sheltered the Crusaders
on the shores of the Bosphorus as they went to Jerusalem, and the
Judas tree, drooping with pink blossoms, on which legend says Iscariot
hanged himself. .
By the Pond is a weeping-willow, planted from a tree which was a
cutting from the willow over Napoleon's grave in St. Helena. In the
Aroid and the great Palm Houses are suggestions of the Tropics ; and
in the Temperate House the flowering shrubs of the Himalayas and the
Antipodes. Then in the Economic Hcuses are the plants of commerce
and industry.
Several of the Temples built by Sir William Chambers and named
after pagan deities still exist. The Pagoda, also set up by Sir William
in 1761, has now for company the Gate of the Imperial Messenger,
or “Chokushi-Mon,” presented to the Gardens by the Japanese
Government. : :
MEANS OF’ ACCESS,
The best route from Town is by Underground to Kew Gardens
Station, whence the Victoria Gate, siving access to the centre of
the Ga rdens, i is but two minutes walk.
Other convenicnt routes are by tram to Kew Bridge from
Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush Underground Stations,
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