96 THE EXETER ROAD 



still wild and barren for the most part, called Bagshot 

 Heath, has durino- the last centurv been the scene of 

 many attempts made to bring it nnder cultivation. 

 These populous times are ill-disposed to the continued 

 existence of waste and unproductive lands, which, 

 when near London, are especially valuable, if they 

 can be made to otow anvthinf^ at all. One thino- 

 which, above all others, has led to the beginning of 

 the end of these old-time wildernesses, formerly the 

 haunts of highwaymen, is the modern discovery of 

 the country and of the benefits of fresh air. AVhen 

 the nineteenth century was yet young the townsman 

 still retained the old habits of thouoht which reoarded 

 the heaths and the hills with aversion. He pigged 

 away his existence over his shop or warehouse in the 

 City, and thought the country fit only for the semi- 

 savages who grew the fruit and vegetables that helped 

 to supply his table, or cultivated the wheat of which 

 his daily bread was compounded. It has been left to 

 us, his descendants, to love the wilds, and thus it is 

 that villa homes are springing up amid the heaths 

 and the pines of this region, away from Woking on 

 the south to Ascot in the north. 



One comes downhill into the laro-e villao-e or small 

 (very small) town of Bagshot, which gives a name to 

 these surrounding wastes of scrubby grass, gorse, and 

 fir-trees. The now quiet street faces the road in the 

 hollow, across which runs the Bourne brook that 

 perhaps originated the place-name, ' Beck-shot ' being 

 the downhill rush of the stream or beck. The many 

 'shotts' that terminate the names of places in Hants 

 and Surrey have this common origin, and are similarly 



