154 THE BATH ROAD 



an offshoot from Speen, which was anciently a fortified 

 Eoman settlement in the tanQ;led underwoods of the 

 wild country between the Roman cities of Aqua3 

 Solis and Oalleva (Bath and Silchester). The Eomans 

 called it " Spinse," i.e. " the Thorns," a sufficiently 

 descriptive title in that era. The Domesday Book 

 calls it " Spone." The fact of Speen having been the 

 original settlement may be partly traced in the 

 circumstance of its lying directly on the old road, 

 while Newbury, its infinitely bigger daughter, sprawls 

 out on the Whitchurch and Andover roads, which 

 run from the Bath Road almost at right angles. 



There are quaint houses at Newbury, and old inns ; 

 some of them, like the " Globe " or the " King's 

 Arms," converted into shops or private houses, while 

 others perhaps do a brisker trade in drink than in 

 good cheer of the more hospitable sort. There are the 

 " White Hart," and the " Jack of Newbury," with a 

 modern front, and others. The Kennet divides the 

 town in half, and runs under a biidge which carries 

 the street across its narrow width, bordered with 

 quaint-looking houses. Here is the old Cloth Hall, 

 a singular building, neglected now that the w^eaving 

 trade has decayed ; and on the west side of the bridge 

 stands the parish church with a small brass in it to the 

 memory of the great " Jack," and a very economical 

 monument to a certain " J.W.G.," 1692, just roughly 

 carved into the stonework of a buttress at the east 

 end. 



It is strange to think that only twenty-seven years 

 ago (in 1872, as a matter of fact), at Newbury, a rag 

 and bone dealer who for several years had been well 



