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NATURAL HISTORY OF SUNNINGHILL. 



BY 0. S. ROUND, ESQ. 

 ( Continued from page 153.) 



Chapter IV. 



Tower Hill, forming, as I have said, a point in the landscape, the 

 ground beyond it falls into a number of transverse undulations, but still 

 at a considerable average height above the surrounding country, extending 

 due south-west as far as Bagshot Park' — many years the residence of 

 William, Duke of Gloucester, and afterwards of his widow, who in turn 

 left it from increasing age and infirmities; and it was then inhabited by 

 Colonel Seymour for some time, and is now, I believe, vacant. Behind 

 this Park a lofty ridge of heath-hills run towards the south for many 

 miles, another turns at right angles to these, and proceeds due east 

 from the parish of Windlesham, as far as Broomhall, where a monastery 

 of Benedictine Friars stood previously to the Reformation, the site being 

 marked by some ancient yew trees and the marks of a large kitchen, — a 

 never-failing concomitant of religious houses of the previous era. This site is 

 now occupied by a farm-yard and home-stead. The hills then rise consid- 

 erably to the east, and are clothed with wood, and partly occupied by a 

 small colony of houses, in which cottage and genteel residences are 

 intermixed. 



At the foot of these hills, which form the northern boundary of the 

 county of Surrey, runs the Great Western Road, already mentioned; 

 and the high ground at the summit of the ridge eastward, again at right 

 angles, turns due north by Virginia Water and Windsor Great Park, and 

 extends as a sort of distant amphitheatre to Ascot Heath again; and thus, 

 if my readers have had patience to follow me, we come round again to 

 the point from whence we set out. Between Ascot Heath and Hagthorn 

 is the highest point in this district, known as Bol-marsh or Bol-ridge 

 Hill, (I am not certain of the spelling,) probably from the prominent 

 part it takes in the scenery. 



The whole of this country bears indubitable marks of having been, 

 probably at the time of the first invasion, a stronghold and encampment 

 of the Romans. Numberless evidences have been discovered of their 

 presence, such as coins, urns, rings, spears, and various kinds of pottery; 

 and one place, called "Wickham Bushes," is covered with barrows, which 

 have almost all been opened, and found to contain the articles above 

 mentioned, and in some instances, human bones. As these mounds were 

 no doubt the mausoleums of this people, we can only refer the circumstance 

 of human remains not being often discovered to the fact of their decay, 



VOL. VIII. 2 D 



