80 



THE DOVER ROAD 



The chapel is. of Hterary interest, for it is the original 

 of Barham's " Ingoldsby Abbe}^" In travelling 

 between Canterbury and London by coach, Barham 

 noticed the ruined walls standing up, silhouetted 

 against the sky, and looking far more important than 



DENTON CHAPEL. 



intrinsically they were ; for this was then a cleared 

 space, the new road near by having in 1787 been cut 

 actually through the little churchyard. 



Commentators in various editions of the Ingoldsby 

 Legends have stated sceptically " the remains of 

 Ingoldsby Abbey will be found — if found at all — among 

 the ' Chateaux en Espagne.' " That is not so ; for 

 here it is. Barham himself, in a note to the legend 

 " The Ingoldsby Penance," remarks the ruins are " still 

 to be seen by the side of the high Dover road, about a 

 mile and a half below the town of Gravesend." 



The great gate Father Thames rolls sun-bright and clear, 

 Cobham woods to the right — on the opposite shore 

 Laindon Hills in the distance, ten miles off, or more ; 

 Then you've Milton and Gravesend behind — and before 

 You can see almost all the way down to the Nore. 



