The Brighton road : the classic highway to the south . st before one reaches PoveyCross and the junction of routes. Povey Cross, of whose name no man knows thederivation, leads direct past the tiny Kimberham, orTimberham, Bridge over the Mole, to Lowfield Heath,referred to in what, for some inscrutable reason, arestyled the Statutes at Large, as Lovell place is in these days a modern hamlet, and theheath, in a strict sense, is to seek. It has been improvedaway by enclosure and cultivation, utterly and withoutremorse ; but the flat, low-lying land remains eloquentof the past, and acco
The Brighton road : the classic highway to the south . st before one reaches PoveyCross and the junction of routes. Povey Cross, of whose name no man knows thederivation, leads direct past the tiny Kimberham, orTimberham, Bridge over the Mole, to Lowfield Heath,referred to in what, for some inscrutable reason, arestyled the Statutes at Large, as Lovell place is in these days a modern hamlet, and theheath, in a strict sense, is to seek. It has been improvedaway by enclosure and cultivation, utterly and withoutremorse ; but the flat, low-lying land remains eloquentof the past, and accounts for the humorous error ofsome old maps which style it Level Heath. The whole district, from Salfords, through Horley,to near Crawlev, is at times little more than an inland 174 THE BRIGHTON ROAD sea, for here ooze and crawl the many tributaries ofthe Mole. The memorable floods of October, 1891,following upon a wet summer and autumnal weeks ofrain, swelled the countless arteries of the Mole, andthe highways became rushing torrents. Along the nut-. G%e j/oofrS a? rorle\ brown flood floated the remaining apples from drownedorchards, with trees, bushes, and hurdles. Postmen ontheir rounds were reduced to wading, and thence tohorseback and wheeled conveyances ; and Horleychurchyard was flooded. CHARLWOOD 175 A repetition of this state of things occurred inFebruary, 1897. when the dedication of the new organin the church of Lowfield Heath could not be performed,the roads being four feet under water. XXI The traveller does not see the true inwardness of theWeald from the hard high road. Turn we, then atPovey Cross for a rustic interlude into the byways,making for Charlwood and Ifield. Few are those who find themselves in these lonelvspots. Hundreds, nay, thousands are continuallypassing almost within hail of their slumberous sites,and have been passing for hundreds of years, yet theyand their inhabitants doze on, and ever and againsome cyclist or pedestrian blunders upon them by
Size: 1576px × 1586px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1922
