126 History of Inland Transport 



Middlesex " ; and along this river there was carried at one 

 time a very considerable quantity of produce and merchandise. 

 The history of Ware goes back to, at least, the ninth century, 

 when the Danes took their ships up to the town but were 

 outmanoeuvred by King Alfred, who diverted the stream, 

 and left the vessels stranded. Not only was the founding of 

 Ware on the spot where it stands due to the convenience of 

 water communication, but Ware itself was one of the ideal 

 ports of the time, inasmuch as it was so far inland, and was in 

 convenient reach of several counties. 



The navigation, as far as Godalming, of the Wey, which falls 

 into the Thames at Weybridge, opened up a great part of 

 Surrey and the adjoining counties to water communication 

 with London. In recording his visit to Guildford, Defoe 

 says of the Wey that a very great quantity of timber was 

 carried along it, such timber being not only brought from the 

 neighbourhood of that town, but conveyed by road from 

 " the woody parts of Sussex and Hampshire above 30 miles 

 from it " ; though he significantly adds that this was done 

 " in the Summer," the Sussex roads being, as I have already 

 shown, probably unequalled for badness, and especially in the 

 winter, by those of any other county in England. Defoe 

 further says in regard to the Wey that it was "a mighty 

 support" to the "great corn-market" at Farnham. Meal- 

 men (as he calls them) and other dealers obtained corn at 

 Farnham, and brought much of it by road to the mills on the 

 Wey, a distance of about seven miles. In these mills it was 

 ground and dressed, and it was then sent in barges to London, 

 "as is practiced," Defoe adds, " on the other side of the 

 Thames for above fifty miles distance from London." 



The Medway was another means of communication between 

 a considerable extent of country and the Thames. It was 

 utilised, not alone for sending timber from the woods of 

 Sussex and Kent to the port of London or elsewhere, but, also, 

 for the distribution of general produce. Defoe says of Maid- v 

 stone, the chief town on the Medway, that " from this Town 

 and the Neighbouring Parts London is supplied with more 

 particulars than from any single market Town in England." 



In addition to these great groups of rivers, many single and 

 minor rivers led to the opening up of inland ports which 

 served in their day a most useful purpose. 



