38 



THOMAS BEWICK. 



Prudhoe station by ferry, or continue down the river to opposite Ryton, by 

 which means a good idea of Bewick's country may be obtained.* When the 

 weather is fine the most enjoyable way to visit these places is to drive out 

 from Newcastle, by the western turnpike, as far as Walbottle, and by New- 

 burn and Wylam to Ovingham and on to Eltringham ferry, where the water 

 is usually fordable : should it not prove so, a drive of half an hour will 

 take to a stone bridge up the river, and the return journey can be made 

 on the southern bank of the water by Cherryburn, Mickley Square, Prudhoe, 

 Ryton, Blaydon, and Gateshead, over the Scotswood suspension bridge to 

 Newcastle. 



The road which Bewick followed when journeying to see his parents would 

 be varied at different times, but as he always spoke of going by Ovingham, 

 it is tolerably certain that he preferred the northern side, leaving Newcastle 

 by the Sand-hill and the Close, and proceeding along the river to Scotswood, 

 Newburn, and Wylam, at that time " beautiful, with a deal of wood," to the 

 ford at Eltringham, where he was wont to cross. The Scotswood Road was 

 not then in existence. He may also occasionally have gone up the hill to 

 the western turnpike, passing the famous Denton Hall, where the giants in 

 literature and art in the last century frequently stayed, and then turned down 

 to the river at Walbottle, obtaining magnificent views from the elevated roads; 

 but we may be sure he would get down to the riverside as soon as he could, 

 so that from Newburn to the ferry opposite Cherryburn is certainly the exact 

 route, so far, taken by Bewick on his long-continued weekly visits. 



Another of Bewick's favourite walks was to the little hamlet called Elswick, 

 which he sometimes visited as often as three times a day. Of this route the 

 Rev. Mr. Turner, in his notice of Bewick in the "Annual Biography" for 

 1 830, gives some interesting details : — 



" For many years of the early period of Bewick's life, he made an invariable 



* In the latter the actual walk would be about seven miles, but by returning to Prudhoe it would only be about 

 three miles. 



