164 THE BRIGHTON ROAD 



k 



but forms part of a public path which was cut through. 

 It is very well worth the traveller's attention, for it 

 joins the severed ends of no less a road than the ancient 

 Pilgrims' Way, and is a very curious instance of 

 modernity helping to preserve antiquity. The Way 

 is clearly seen above, coming from Box Hill as a hollow 

 road, crossing the bridge and going in the direction 

 of Gatton Park, through a wood of beech trees. 



The roadway of Reigate Hill is made to wind 

 circuitously, in an attempt to mitigate the severity 

 of the gradient ; but for all the care taken, it remains 

 one of the steepest hills in England, and is one of the 

 very few provided with granite kerbs intended to ease 

 the pull-up for horses. None but a very special fool 

 among cyclists in the old days attempted to ride down 

 the hill ; and many, even in these times of more 

 efficient brakes, prefer to walk down. Only motor- 

 cars, like the Gadarene swine of the Scriptures, 

 " rushing violently down a steep place," attempt it ; 

 and those who are best acquainted with the hill live 

 in daily expectation of a recklessly driven car spilling 

 over the rim. 



XIX 



Reigate town lies at the foot, sheltered under this 

 great shoulder of the downs : a little town of consider- 

 able antiquity and inconsiderable story. It is 

 mentioned in Domesday Book, but under the now 

 forgotten name of " Cherchefelle," and did not begin 

 to assume the name of Reigate until nearly two 

 hundred years later. 



Churchfield was at the time of the Norman conquest 

 a manor in the possession of the widowed Queen, and 

 was probably little more than an enclosed farm and 

 manor-house situated in a clearing of the Holmesdale 

 woods ; but it had not long passed into the hands of 

 William de Varennes, who had married Gundrada the 



