The Brighton road : the classic highway to the south . ,but the Jews and the jobbers swarm more thanever. The tunnel through the castle hill was made byconsent of the then owner, Earl Somers, as a tabletinforms all who care to know. The entrance towardsthe town is faced with white brick, in a style supposedto be Norman. Above are the grounds, now public,where a would-be mediaeval gateway, erected in 1777,quite illegitimately impresses many innocents, andbelow is the so-called Barons Cave, an ancient excava-tion in the soft sandstone where the Barons are (quitefalsely) said to have assembled in
The Brighton road : the classic highway to the south . ,but the Jews and the jobbers swarm more thanever. The tunnel through the castle hill was made byconsent of the then owner, Earl Somers, as a tabletinforms all who care to know. The entrance towardsthe town is faced with white brick, in a style supposedto be Norman. Above are the grounds, now public,where a would-be mediaeval gateway, erected in 1777,quite illegitimately impresses many innocents, andbelow is the so-called Barons Cave, an ancient excava-tion in the soft sandstone where the Barons are (quitefalsely) said to have assembled in conclave beforeforcing their will upon King John at for that tradition, the then Earl Warennewas a supporter of the tyrant king, and any reformingbarons he might possibly have entertained at Reigate THE CASTLE CAVES 167 Castle would have been kept on the chain as enemies,and treated to the cold comfort of bread and water. There are deeper depths than these castle caves,for dungeon-like excavations exist beside and under- *&*-. c^^e^— THE TUNNEL, REIGATE. neath the tunnel; but they are not so very terrible,exuding as they do strong vinous and spirituousodours, proving that the only prisoners languishingthere are hogsheads and kilderkins. 168 THE BRIGHTON ROAD Reigate, dropping its intermediate name ofCherchefelle on Ridgegate, became variously Reigate,Riggate, and Reygate in the thirteenth century. Thename obviously indicates a gate—that is to say, aroad—over the ridge of the downs ; presumably thatroad upon which Gatton, the gate-town, supporting this theory, Wray Common andPark are found on the line of road between Reigate andGatton. If we select Reygate from the manyvariants of the place-name, and place it beside that ofWray Common, we get at once the phonetic link. When Reigate lost the two members it sent toParliament, it lost much more than the mere distinctionof being represented. It lost free drinks and money tojingle in its pock
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1922
