62 



and Winchester, in relation to the coast. They are both within a 

 day's march of a sea port for an army with bag-gage, both were 

 fortified and both are centres from which to control the surround- 

 ing country. The rivers on which they stand, the Itchen and the 

 Stour, are very much alike in character and afford similar advan- 

 tages. Then there are the Roman roads radiating to and from 

 each of the cities. Canterbury has six, together with a coastal one 

 running from Sandwich to Dover, while Winchester has five, 

 together with a cross-country one from Silchester to Old Sarum. 

 Those concentrating on Canterbury run from London, Reculvers, 

 Sandwich, Deal, and Dover, the sixth being the Stone Street 

 already mentioned. Most of these are obliterated to-day, but the 

 great Watling Street remains running from Dover to Canterbury, 

 thence to London, and on right across the country to Chester. 

 The Roman roads connect up Winchester with several places of 

 great historic interest, viz., Old Sarum, Marlborough, Ilchester, 

 Chichester, and Southampton. Lastly, we come to the ancient 

 Fossway which has connected Winchester with Canterbury prob- 

 ably since prehistoric times. Some 120 miles in length, it ran from 

 Hampshire along the North Downs through Surrey and so into 

 Kent. The popularity and fame of the shrine of St. Thomas 

 brought this old road into use again and for nearly 400 years 

 pilgrims from all the south-western parts of England, from Wales 

 and the Continent, even from Asia, passed through Winchester 

 on their way to the shrine which had become the most famous in 

 Europe. 



By the Rev. H. Shaen Solly, M.A. 

 (Read at a General Excursion, August 16, 1919.) 



EAR the road between Salisbury and Shaftesbury, in the 



parish of Tisbury and the county of Wiltshire, stands the 

 ruin of Old W T ardour Castle. Its site was originally occupied 

 as the family seat of the St. Martins, one of whom erected the 

 market cross at Salisbury. In the reign of Edward III. it passed 

 for three generations into the family of the Levels, and in 1392, 

 in the reign of Richard II., Lord Lovel obtained permission to 

 build the castle whose remains we now see. During the Wars of 

 the Roses the heir got into difficulties through espousing the 

 Lancastrian cause, and the property was granted by Edward IV. 

 to the Touchets. However, the second possessor of this line 

 was beheaded in 1197 as a rebel against Henry VII. The pro- 

 perty was confiscated, and after a while purchased by Sir John 

 Arundel of Lanherne, in Cornwall, a descendant of the former 

 Lovels. He presented it to his second son, Sir Thomas Arundel, 

 who was brother-in-law to the fifth wife of Henry VIII., the un- 



Old Wardour Castle. 



