The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-10-02
FROM EUROPE.
Old English Castlcs--.Famcd
kenilWOrth and Warwick
statistics Of English Farming
The City OF Colleges. Oxford.
OXFORD, ENGLAND, !
Sept. 18th. 1873.

r The City Of Colleges, Oxford.
OXFORD, ENGLAND,
Sept. 18th, 1873.
bear Friend Charlie II hav,
spent very busy and very pleas
an, week since writing you last
believe the pleasantest week | have
spent in England. A week ago to-
day | said good bye to Birmingham
and started for Oxford Two or three
places which Law in my way were too
well known. and too worthy of Wis
il to be passed by. The first was
kenilworth Castle. All admirers of
Sir Walter Scott viii feel an interest
in this place which he has made i'm
mortal. | have to confess l have
never read his story Of that name,
and so wanted that special interest in
the place; but | found that it needed
! no accidental associations TO make it
interesting. The castle was in its
glory in Elizabeth's time. when its
newest buildings were erected. 1t is
a pleasant thing for one who has new
er seen building more than thirty
seven years old to stand among ruins
that cannot boast of anything young
er than three hundred. The oldest
part Of the castle is probably about
600 years old. and this is still the
best preserved. Its walls are four
teen feet thick at the base, and they
give good promise of another 600
years. The castle walls at one time
included about seven acres Of ground.
OF course il could shelter large
garrison.
English castles are as rule larger
than those of the Scotch, but they
are not nearly as strong. There are
no such natural dcfcnces rs Stirling.
or Edinburgh, or Dumbarton in Eng
land; the Barons had TO rely more
on their own efforts for their defense.
The garrison of good Scotch hold
could feas. and be merry, with little
thought Of an enemy; but most Eng
lish castles l have seen needed guard
ing. Wentworth was first partly de-
stroyed BY Cromwell's soldiers dur
ing the civil war. Since that time it
has gradually fallen into decay. The
present owner is doing all he can to
preserve it, and it will probably be a
place of interest to a good many COM
ing generations OF tourists.
Warwick Castle is about five miles
from kenilworth. 1t is possibly the
only genuine old feudal castle in Eng
land that is still used as residence.
OF course it has been a good deal
modified, but not SO much but that
YOU can see Just how it was in the
olden time. The towers, too. and the
walls are substantially as they We're
600 wears ago. You still enter the
castle by means of a drawbridge, and
pass under an arched doorway pro-
tected by portculis. In the walls
you see the places of the old hinges
by which two or more heavy gates
were hung There would have been
a stout fight before an enemy could
have passed all these. Over the gate
was was the Warder's house; on
each side OF it is a tower, one l45
feet and the other l2S feet high. On
the left are the buildings for the res
idence Of the family. The whole cas-
tie covers about FIVE acres. Ii is
projected by a wall eight or ten feet
thick and from twenty to fifty feet
high. A parapet passes around the
entire wall, SO that the whole could
be easily manned, and the front is
embattled, and has openings for the
use of the old cross-bow Englishmen
knew SO well how TO use. Outside,
tine whole is protected by a deep
moat, bur this, of course, is now dry.
On the south side of the castle is
long mound supposed to have been
built for the defense of Warwick
town more than 1000 years ago in
the time of Saxon Alfred. Under
meath it are cells which were proba-
bly, used for prisons at one time-not
a very wholesome place of con6ne-
ment one would say, but they used
to care less for that than they do
now.
The castle contains very fine col
lection of paintings; but ones pleas
ure in seeing them is very much mod
fled by the fact that YOU are shown
round by guide who has probably
done the same hundreds Of times,
and is only interested in getting
around as soon as possible and get
ting your pennies at the door. Still
!! have a good picture of some of the
pictures III my mind with which !
would not part for consideration.
bennington, about two miles from
Warwick, is the prettiest town ] have
seen i'll England. 1t is in a charming
country, has beautiful stream. "A
branch of the Avon, passing through
it. has some of the cosiest shadiest
walks imaginable, is new and fresh
and sweet and has no factories.
picked out my residence in house
that said, departments TO let Ii |
ever want to lounge through July
and August in perfect freedom from
care shall come to bennington.
The ordinary road from Warwick
to bennington has little of interest;
but if man has sturdy bearers" he /
can't use them better than in little
walk Of two or three miles. past
GUYS Cliff, and across the fields to
bennington. For a wonder here is
one field in England that man can
cross without being called trespass
er; bur even here are signs of warn
ing for him to keep in the path. The
whole walk is through one Of the
choicest bits of scenery ! have seen;
and the view Of Guys Cliff from
little mill on the way is itself worth
two mile walk.
l believe | promised in one of my
letters to give you some statistics of
English farming. One Of my friends
at home wished to know if the i'm
mense increase Of our own agricul' ur-
al products had in any way affected
English farmers. think not: nor
has the recent rise in wages. think
from all | have been able to observe,
both here and in Scotland. that farm