NO THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN THE GREAT NORTH ROAD HISTORIES OF THE ROADS BY CHARLES G. HARPER. THE BRIGHTON ROAD : The Classic Highway to the South. THE GREAT NORTH ROAD : London to York. THE GREAT NORTH ROAD : York to Edinburgh THE DOVER ROAD : Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. THE BATH ROAD : History, Fashion and Frivolity on an old Highway. THE MANCHESTER AND GLASGOW ROAD : London to Manchester. THE MANCHESTER ROAD : Manchester to Glasgow. THE HOLYHEAD ROAD : London to Birming- ham. THE HOLYHEAD ROAD: Birmingham to Holyhead. " THE HASTINGS ROAD : And The Happy Springs of Tunbridge." THE OXFORD GLOUCESTER AND MILFORD HAVEN ROAD : London to Gloucester. THE OXFORD, GLOUCESTER AND MILFORD HAVEN ROAD Gloucester to Milford Haven. THE NORWICH ROAD An East Anglian Highway. THE NEWMARKET, BURY, THETFORD AND CROMER ROAD. THE EXETER ROAD . The West of England Highway. THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD THE CAMBRIDGE, KING'S LYNN AND ELY ROAD. GREAT NORTH ROAD The Old Mail Road to Scotland ' By CHARLES G'. HARPER YORK TO EDINBURGH With 77 Illustrations by the Author, and from old-time Prints and Pictures LONDON : CECIL PALMER OAKLEY' HOUSE, BLOOMSBURY STREET, W.C. I D/K ' H38 I f.3.2. First Published in 1901. Second and Revised Edition 1922. Printed in Great Britain by C. TINLING & Co., LTD., 53, Victoria Street, Liverpool. Also at London and Prescot. THE GREAT NORTH ROAD YORK TO EDINBURGH London (General Post Office) to MILES York , 196| Clifton. ... * 198J Rawcliff . ... , 200J Skelton . ... 201 J Shipton . 202f Tollerton Lanes . 206 Easingwold . 210J White House . .... 211J Thormanby 214J Birdforth . ..215 " Bagby Common (" Griffin Inn) . ... 217J Mile House . , ^ . 218J Thirsk . * fc % . 220J South Kilvington ...... 222 Thornton-le-Street . ; . 223J Thornton-le-Moor . ., . 224| Northallerton . 229 Hill . Lovesome , ,. 229| Little Smeaton (cross River Wiske) . 231 1 Great Smeaton 232J High Entercommon ...... 233J Dalton-on-Tees 236J Croft (cross River Tees) . 237f Oxneyfield Bridge (cross River Skerne) . 238 Darlington ....... 241 J Harrowgate ....... 243 1 THE GREAT NORTH ROAD MILES Coatham Mundeville ..... 245J Aycliffe 246f Traveller's Rest 248 Woodham 249 J Rushyford Bridge 250 Ferryhill 253 Low Butcher Race and Croxdale . 255 Sunderland Bridge ..... 255| Browney Bridge (cross River Wear) . 256 Durham (cross River Browney) . 260 Durham Moor (Framwellgate) . 261 Plawsworth 263 Chester-le-Street 266 Birtley 269 Gateshead Fell 271 Gateshead (cross River Tyne) .... 273 Newcastle-on-Tyne ..... 274J Gosforth . .277 Seaton Burn 280| Stannington Bridge (cross River Blyth) . 284 Stannington ...... 284J Clifton. 286J Morpeth (cross River Wansbeck) . 289J Warrener's House . 29 1J Priest's Bridge 293J West Thirston (cross River Coquet) . 299J Feiton , 299| Newton-on-the Moor ..... 302 Alnwick (cross River Aln) .... 308 J Heiferlaw Bank 310 North Charlton 31 4 1 Warenford 318| Belford 323 Detchant Cottages 325} Fenwick 328 MILEAGES. MILKS Haggerston ....... 331 Tweedmouth (cross River Tweed) . 337 Berwick-on-Tweed . * 338 Lamberton Toll . 341 (ENTER SCOTLAND) Greystonelees ...... 343 1 Flemington Inn and Burnmouth (cross River Eye) 344 Ayton ..... .... 346 Houndwood ...... 351 f Grant's House . 354i Cockburnspath . 358 Dunglass Dene . 359J Broxburn ....... 3634 Dunbar ....... 365 Belhaven . , . .- 365J Beltonford . .. ... 367 Phantassie . 370 East Linton ..... 370 Haddington . ~: .376 Gladsmuir ....... 379| Macmerry ....... 381 J Tranent ...... 383J Musselburgh (cross North Esk River) . 387J Joppa . ... ... 389J . Portobello . , . .390 Jock's Lodge . 391 \ Edinburgh . 393 Via FERRYBRIDGE, WETHERBY, AND BOROUGHBRIDGE. Doncaster (cross River Don) .... York Bar . ..... 164 Red House . 167J THE GREAT NORTH ROAD MILES Robin Hood's Well 169J Went Bridge (cross River Went) . 172f Darrington ....... 174J Ferrybridge (cross River Aire) . 177J Brotherton . 178i Fairburn 180 Micklefield 184 Aberford 186J Bramham Moor . .189 Bramham 190J Wetherby (cross River Wharfe) . 194J KirkDeighton 195J Walshford Bridge (cross River Nidd) . 197^ Allerton Park 200 f Nineveh 202^ Ornham's Hall 204 Boroughbridge (cross River Ure) . 206 Kirkby Hill 207 Dishforth ...."... 210J Asenby 212J Topcliffe (cross River Swale) . 21 2 J Sand Hutton 217 Newsham ....... 219 South Otterington 220| North Otterington 222J Northallerton 225J Edinburgh 389 ILBS? PAGE " The Highflyer," 1812 . Frontispiece Old York : The Shambles . ... 6 The Walls of York . ... 9 York Castle : Clifford's Tower . 14 York Minster, from the Foss .... 33 All Saints' Pavement ..... 41 Jonathan Martin, Incendiary . ... 45 York Minster 011 Fire ..... 49 Bootham Bar ...... 52 Skelton Church ...... 53 " The Spotted Dog," Thornton-le-Street . 60 York Bar 63 Robin Hood's Well ..... 64 The Battlefield of Towton and surrounding country ...... 70 Saxton ....... 71 Towton Dale 72 Lead Chapel . 74 Ruined Mill overlooking Aberford . 76 THE GREAT NORTH ROAD PAGE Barwick-in-Elmete ..... 77 Moor End 80 Nineveh . 81 The Edinburgh Express, 1837 . 85 Croft Bridge 93 Sockburn Falchion ..... 94 " " Locomotion . 98 " "" The Experiment 99 " I fellow, a of coke, say, give my buggy charge" your charcoal is too d d dear . 101 The Iron Road to the North . .105 Traveller's Rest .108 Rushyford Bridge . .109 Ferryhill : The Abandoned Road-Works. Ill Merrington Church . 113 Road, Rail, and River : Sunderland Bridge . 115 Entrance to Durham . .117 Durham Cathedral, from Prebend's Bridge . 121 The Sanctuary Knocker. .125 Durham Cathedral and Castle from below Framwellgate Bridge . 12 T Framwellgate Bridge . .130 Penshaw Monument . .132 The Coal Country 137 A Wayside Halt 138 Travellers arriving at an Inn . .145 Modern Newcastle : from Gateshead . 153 Old Newcastle : showing the Town Bridge, now demolished . .157 " " The Drunkard's Cloak . .162 " " Puffing Billy 165 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Gates of Blagdon Park . .167 Morpeth 169 The Market-place, Morpeth . .173 Felton Bridge 174 Alnwick ....... 175 Alnwick Castle . 185 Malcolm's Cross . ... 188 Bambrough Castle 192 The Scottish Border : Berwick Town and Bridge from Tweedmouth . .197 Lamberton Toll 203 Off to the Border . .205 Cockburnspath Tower . .213 The Tolbooth, Dunbar . .215 Bothwell Castle ...... 220 Haddington Abbey, from Nungate . 221 Edinburgh, from Tranent .... 223 v ~ Musselburgh . 228 Calton Hill .232 " " The White Horse Inn . 235 " " Squalor and Picturesqueness . 238 Canongate 239 Old Inscription, Lady Stair's House . 241 " " The Heave Awa Sign . 242 " A Tirle-pin 243 Greyfriars ....... 245 The Wooden Horse 247 Stately Princes Street ..... 249 P^dinburgh, New Town, 1847, from Mons Meg Battery 251 Skyline of the Old Town . 255 THE , NORJH GREAT YORK TO EDINBURGH AT last we are safely arrived at York, perhaps no cause for comment in these days, but a circumstance which " " once upon a time might almost have warranted a special service of prayer and praise in the Minster. One comes to York as the capital of a country, rather than of a county, for it is a city that seems in more than one sense Metropolitan. Indeed, you cannot travel close upon two hundred miles, even in England and in these days of swift communication, without feeling the need of some dominating city, to act partly as a seat of civil and ecclesiastical government, as a centre if and partly distributing ; and something of this need is even how much more yet apparent, " " keenly it must have been felt in those good old days which were really so bad ! A half-way house, so to speak, between those other capitals of London and Edinburgh, York had all the appearance of a capital in days of old, and has lost but little of it, in these, B 1 2 THE GREAT NORTH ROAD even though in point of wealth and population it lags behind those rich and dirty neighbours, Leeds and Bradford. For one thing, it has a history to which they cannot lay claim, and keeps a firm hold upon titles and dignities conferred ages ago. We may ransack the pages of historians in vain in attempting to find the beginnings of York. Before history began it existed, and just because it seems a shocking thing to the well-ordered historical mind that the first founding of a city should go back beyond history or tradition, Geoffrey of Monmouth and other equally unveracious chroniclers have obligingly given precise and quite untrustworthy accounts of how it arose, at the bidding of kings who never had an existence outside their fertile brains. When the Romans came, under Agricola, in A.D. 70, York was here. We do not know by what name the Brigantes, the warlike tribe who inhabited the northern districts of Britain, called it, but they possessed forts at this strategic point, the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss, where York still stands, and evidently had the military virtues fully developed, because it has seemed good to all who have come after them, from the Romans and the Normans to ourselves, to build and retain castles on the same sites. The Brigantes were a great people, despite the fact that they had no literature, 110 science, and no clothes with which to cover their nakedness, and were they in existence now, might be useful in teaching our War Office and commanding officers something of strategy and fortification. They have left memorials of their existence in the names of " many places beginning with Brig," and they are the of all the that ever existed, for sponsors brigands " their name was a Brito-Welsh word meaning hill- " " men or highlanders," and, as in the old days, to be a highlander was to be a thief