The A303
Page 27
A358, ref1
A36, ref1, ref2
A360, ref1, ref2
A38, xvii
A40, ref1
Roads in Britain, ref1
Roads for the Future, ref1
Roads for Prosperity, ref1, ref2, ref3
Robert Wiseman Dairies, ref1
Roberts, George, biographer of Duke of Monmouth, ref1
Robinson, Derek, ‘Red Robbo’, trade union activist, ref1, ref2
Rodin, Auguste, sculptor, ref1
Rolt, L. T. C, biographer of Brunel, author of Landscape with Machines, ref1, ref2
Rothwell, the Reverend Thomas, Rector of Monxton and mathematician:
singular man, ref1
refused to take exercise, ref1
calculations, ref1
Royal Army Service Corps, ref1
Royal Flying Corps, ref1
Royal Hampshire Regiment, ref1
Royal Navy Air Station, Yeovilton, Somerset, ref1
Russell’s Flying Wagons, ref1
Rye House Plot, to assassinate Charles II and James II, ref1
Sabido, Kim, journalist, reporting on Battle of Beanfield, ref1
SABRE (Society of All British and Irish Road Enthusiasts), ref1
Sachs, Wolfgang, sociologist and author of For Love of the Automobile, ref1
St Barnabas, Church of, Ham, Somerset, ref1
Salisbury, Wiltshire:
and River Avon, ref1, ref2, ref3
Rebecca, ref1
Sidney Spicer, taxi driver, ref1
cathedral, ref1
trippers to Stonehenge, ref1
taken by Saxon invaders, ref1
Salisbury District Council, bans bison, ref1
Salisbury Journal, newspaper, reports sun worship at Stonehenge, ref1
Salisbury Museum, ref1
Salisbury Plain:
Rebecca, ref1
Daniel Defoe, ref1
view from Beacon Hill, ref1
River Bourne, ref1
Saxon Invasion, ref1
prehistory, ref1
great bustard, ref1, ref2
British Army, ref1, ref2, ref3
chalk, ref1
sheep and shepherds, ref1
farming, ref1
flora and fauna, ref1
end, ref1
Saratov Oblast, Russia, home of great bustards, ref1, ref2
Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, ref1
Sawyer, Frank, author of Keeper of the Stream, ref1
Scargill, Arthur, leader of National Union of Mineworkers, ref1, ref2
Sedgemoor, Battle of, ref1
Selwood Forest, ref1, ref2
Setright, L. J. K., journalist, on the car’s immortal power, ref1
Seymour, Edward, Duke of Somerset, ref1
Seymour, Henry, lover of Madame du Barry, ref1 (footnote)
Shah of Iran, ref1
Shakespeare in Love, film, ref1
Shrewton, Wiltshire, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Singing Detective, The, television drama by Dennis Potter, ref1
Sitwell, Sacheverell, poet, ref1 (footnote)
Skipwith, Henry, servant of Earl of Castlehaven at Fonthill, ref1
Slough, Berkshire, ref1, ref2
Slough Observer, newspaper, reports on Sid Rawle, ref1
Smith, Chris (later Lord), Labour politician, promises to square Stonehenge circle, ref1
Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, ref1, ref2
Somerset District Council, ref1
‘Souls, The’, group of Tory thinkers, ref1
South Cadbury, Somerset, village below Cadbury Castle, ref1
South Petherton, Somerset, on River Parrett, ref1
Southcott, Joanna, prophet and religious crackpot, ref1, ref2
Speke, Charles, executed for shaking Duke of Monmouth’s hand, ref1
Speke, George, of Whitelackington, ref1
Speke, John, supporter of Monmouth’s rebellion, ref1, ref2
Speke, John Hanning, explorer and discoverer of the source of the Nile, buried at Dawlish Wake, ref1
Spicer, Sidney, taxi driver murdered by Percy Toplis, ref1, ref2
Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Roads, ref1
Steam-carriage, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney’s, ref1
Stevens, Sir Jocelyn, chairman of English Heritage, ref1, ref2
Stockbridge, Hampshire, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Stockton, Wiltshire, in Wylye Valley, ref1
Stockton Wood, ref1
Stoke Trister, Somerset, ref1
Stonehenge, prehistoric monument:
holiday stop-off, ref1
ancient paths leading to, ref1, ref2
view of, ref1
Free Festival, ref1
exclusion zone, ref1
from Beacon Hill, ref1
stone circle, ref1
traffic, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
tunnel, ref1
visitor centre, ref1
guides, ref1
photographer, ref1
Antrobus family, ref1, ref2, ref3
Druids, ref1, ref2
Cursus, ref1, ref2
Inigo Jones, ref1
General Pitt-Rivers, ref1
Donald Cyr, ref1
William Cunnington, ref1
construction of, ref1
miniature cousin, ref1
bluestones, ref1
Stour, River:
valley, ref1, ref2
six springs, ref1
Bourton, ref1
Stourhead, Wiltshire, home of the Hoares:
garden paradise, ref1
seen from Whitesheet Hill, ref1
Harrow Way, ref1
Alfred’s Tower, ref1
and River Stour, ref1
Stukeley, Doctor William, antiquary and Druid:
assigns date to Stonehenge, ref1
gentle Druidism, ref1
names Bush Barrow, ref1
Camelot, ref1
Sutton Montis, Somerset, ref1
‘Swampy’ (Daniel Hooper), campaigner against Newbury bypass, ref1
Sylvester, James Joseph, mathematician, ref1
Taunton, Somerset:
M5, ref1
Monmouth’s rebellion, ref1
Tebbitt, Norman, Conservative politician:
attacks BBC, ref1
stops at Willoughby Hedge café, ref1
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, poet, ref1
Tesco, supermarket chain:
plans Great Shed at Andover, ref1
gets store in Ilminster, ref1
Test, River:
valley, ref1
crossed by A303, ref1
Queen Elfrida drowns in, ref1
Test Valley Borough Council, ref1
Thames Valley Police, break up Windsor Free Festival, ref1
Thatcher, Margaret:
and Love Convoy, ref1
getting through transport secretaries, ref1
rancorous climate of 1980s, ref1
attitude to disorder, ref1
not riding naked on stallion, ref1
support for ‘great car economy’ abandoned, ref1
Thorn, John, headmaster of Winchester College, ref1
Thruxton, Hampshire:
dual carriageway A303, ref1
‘old’ A303, ref1
murder of Sidney Spicer, ref1
number of residents in 1725, ref1
The George pub, ref1
White Horse pub, ref1
Formula Three racing circuit, ref1
turnpike road, ref1
Till, River:
flow, ref1
water meadows, ref1
friend in Rob Turner, ref1
spawning salmon, ref1
Tilshead, Wiltshire, ref1, ref2
Timperley, Harold, co-author of The Lost Trackways of Wessex, ref1, ref2, ref3
Tintagel, Cornwall, ref1
Top Gear, BBC television programme, ref1
Toplis, Percy, conman and murderer:
<
br /> wanted for murder, ref1
escapes to Scotland, ref1
shot, ref1
black market operation in Bulford, ref1
alleged role in Étaples, ref1
played by Paul McGann, ref1
Touchet, Elizabeth, daughter of 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, ref1
Touchet, James, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, ref1
Touchet, Mervyn, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, executed for rape and sodomy, ref1
Traffic in Towns, study by Professor Colin Buchanan, ref1
Transport 2000, campaign group, ref1
Transport: The New Realism, study by Transport Studies Unit, ref1
Triumph Herald, motor car, xviii
Trollope, Thomas, brother of Anthony and coach-travel enthusiast, ref1
Turner, Rob, Wiltshire farmer, ref1, ref2
Twyford Down, Hampshire, ref1
Tyme, John, anti-roads campaigner, ref1
Universal Bond of the Sons of Men, Druids, ref1
Upottery, Devon, ref1
Urry, Professor John, sociologist: anonymised machines, ref1;
travel in future, ref1
Vanden Plas 1300, motor car, ref1
Vauxhall Cresta, motor car, ref1
Vince, Charlie, former owner of garage in Winterbourne Stoke, ref1
Vince, Mrs, mistress of Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt, ref1, ref2
Walker, Peter, Conservative politician, ref1
Walter, Richard, on Ham Hill, ref1
Walton, Izaak, biographer of Richard Hooker, ref1
Wardour, Vale of, ref1
Warminster, Wiltshire:
army training grounds, ref1
market, ref1
road from Stonehenge, ref1
Wylye valley, ref1
A36, ref1
Water meadows:
Winterbourne Stoke, ref1
development of technology, ref1
cost, ref1
dividends, ref1
drowner, ref1
passing of, ref1
source of invertebrate life, ref1
Watkins, Alfred, pioneer of ley lines theory, ref1
Watkinson, Harold:
votes in motorways, ref1, ref2
dynamism, ref1
Webb, Philip, architect of ‘Clouds’, East Knoyle, ref1
Wessex:
ceases to be earldom, ref1
Wessex Constitutional Convention, ref1
Wessex Society, ref1, ref2
Wessex Regionalists, ref1, ref2
Wessex Novels, ref1
University of, ref1
Earl and Countess of, ref1
brand thriving, ref1
appeal of, ref1
West, Timothy, actor, ref1
West Camel, Somerset, ref1
West Knoyle Bison Farm, ref1, ref2
Weyhill, Hampshire:
bypass, ref1, ref2
living in fear, ref1
Weyhill Fair, ref1, ref2, ref3
Where the Bright Waters Meet, fishing book by Harry Plunket Greene, ref1
Wherwell, Hampshire:
nunnery founded by Queen Elfrida, ref1
Priory, home of Colonel William Iremonger, ref1
White, Gilbert, author of The Natural History of Selborne, records incident with great bustards, ref1
White, the Reverend Henry, Rector of Kimpton:
buys cheeses at Weyhill Fair, ref1
sees savage at Weyhill Fair, ref1
White, Theodore, American journalist and historian, ref1
White Horse, The, pub at Thruxton:
age, ref1
too close to A303 for comfort, ref1
atmosphere, ref1
Whitelackington, Somerset:
church, ref1
Speke family, ref1
chestnut tree, ref1
news of Monmouth’s rebellion, ref1
Whitesheet Hill, Wiltshire:
history, ref1
Good Friday fun and games, ref1
view from, ref1
Stourhead, ref1
Whitlock, Ralph, historian of Salisbury Plain, ref1
William of Malmesbury, medieval chronicler:
story of Deadman’s Plack, ref1
hard on Edgar, ref1
regarded as unreliable, ref1
unsinkable, ref1
Williams, Sir Owen, road engineer, ref1
Willoughby Hedge, Wiltshire:
Harrow Way, ref1
café, ref1
turnpike road, ref1
Wiltshire Heritage Museum, Devizes, ref1 (footnote)
Wiltshire Horn, breed of sheep:
appearance and digestion, ref1
‘walking dung-cart’, ref1
passing of, ref1
Wincanton, Somerset:
Rebecca, ref1
Portuguese dimension, ref1
twinned with Ankh-Morkh, ref1
Winchester, Hampshire, capital of Wessex, ref1
Windsor Free Festival, ref1
Windsor Freek Press, ref1
Winterbourne Stoke, Wiltshire:
road saga, ref1, ref2
railway from Stonehenge, ref1
church, ref1
Manor Farm, ref1, ref2
stream, ref1, ref2
Joseph’s tea bar, ref1
Wolsey, Cardinal Thomas:
Rector of Limington, ref1
put in stocks for pinching bottoms, ref1
revenge, ref1
Wood, John, architect of Bath, inquiries at Stonehenge, ref1
Woodhenge, Wiltshire, ref1, ref2
Woolf, Virginia, novelist, on the delights of motoring, ref1
Worcester, Battle of, ref1, ref2 (footnote)
Wordsworth, William, poet, on Druids, ref1
Wren, Doctor Christopher, Rector of East Knoyle, ref1
Wylye, Wiltshire:
bypass, ref1, ref2, ref3
food, ref1
cars flash by on A303, ref1
‘old’ A303, ref1
ford, ref1
Wylye, River:
going to fish, ref1
water meadows, ref1
valley and its villages, ref1
lovable stream, ref1
Wyndham, George, politician and owner of ‘Clouds’:
allegedly dies in Paris brothel, ref1
undone by Irish tribalism, ref1
depression, ref1
Wyndham, Madeline, mother of George, ref1
Wyndham, Percy, father of George, ref1
Wyndham, Richard ‘Whips’:
oddest of the family, ref1
taste for flagellation, ref1
death, ref1
one success, ref1 (footnote)
Yarnbury Castle, Wiltshire:
and A303, ref1, ref2
hilltop settlement, ref1
fair, ref1, ref2
searching for, ref1
history, ref1
silent, ref1
Yeovil, Somerset, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Yeovilton, Somerset, ref1
Zeals, Somerset, ref1
ENDNOTES
1. Another clue that the A303 was in his mind could be the reference in the fourth line to houses being replaced by ‘an open field, or a factory, or a bypass’.
2. Plunket Greene was a formidable interpreter of Elgar – he sang the title role in the first performance of Dream of Gerontius – and Parry, whose daughter he married. He was a great advocate for German lieder, then very much a minority taste; you may catch him on YouTube singing ‘The Hurdy-Gurdy Man’ from Schubert’s Winterreise.
3. Hudson, incidentally, so disliked Freeman and his ‘infernal cocksure arrogance’ that he turned the story of Edgar, Elfrida and Aethelwold into a romance under the title Deadman’s Plack.
4. Dark allegations swirl across the internet that many of the dead badgers found on roadsides are actually shot elsewhere by farmers anxious about TB, then dumped to conceal the crime. This seems highly improbable (why not hide them somewhere i
n the woods?) but perhaps the Highways Agency could arrange sample autopsies to clear up the matter.
5. ‘At my master’s bidding I went to the fairs at Weyhill and Winchester with a wide range of merchandise. If the grace of guile had not blessed my goods, God help me! they would have remained unsold these seven years!’ (Translation by Stella Brook, Manchester Medieval Classics.)
6. It was, of course, Swedish; the name is an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, meaning Swedish Aeroplane Company.
7. Motivated largely by curiosity, she travelled much of the country between 1684 and 1703; her memoirs were eventually published in 1888 under the title Through England on a Side Saddle.
8. He became Sir Cecil Chubb and subsequently devoted himself to running Fisherton House in Salisbury, at that time the largest private lunatic asylum in Europe.
9. Details on www.warband.org.uk
10. A new revision was published in March 2012
11. Scarcely credibly, there were 140,000 of them, each the width of a human hair, each individually set into the hilt. In the 1960s the surviving pins were removed to Cardiff University for examination by the leading Stonehenge expert of the time, Professor Richard Atkinson. After his death they were put in a drawer where they were eventually found forty years later. They have now been reunited with the other finds from the Bush Barrow at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes.
12. Other sufferers have included Abraham Lincoln, Richard Kiel – who played Jaws in the James Bond films Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me – the Italian heavyweight boxer Primo Carnera, dubbed the Ambling Alp by American sports writers, and the puppet figure Pulcinella or Mr Punch.
13. But not in the winter of 2011/12, when severe drought kept the stream dry throughout.
14. A pompous marble memorial in the chancel records another East Knoyle association, this time with the Seymours, a junior branch of the Seymours of Wolf Hall. One of them, Henry Seymour, married as his second wife a French countess and took a house outside Paris, close to Louveciennes, where Louis XV had installed his favourite mistress, Madame du Barry, as châtelaine. She swiftly fell for Seymour’s manly Wiltshire charms and they became lovers. He was moody and jealous, she was passionate and wholly indiscreet. In one of her letters she lamented: ‘How cruel and unjust you are. Why must you torment a heart that cannot and shall not belong to any but you?’ In August 1792, after the sacking of the Tuileries by the Paris mob and the detention of the French royal family, Seymour prudently hot-footed it back to England. His lover was less fortunate. Convicted of extravagant living and publicly mourning the King, Madame du Barry was guillotined.
15. The exotic-looking Glyn was the subject of an oft-quoted ditty: ‘Would you like to sin/With Elinor Glyn/On a tiger skin?/Or would you prefer/To err with her/On some other fur?’
16. Wyndham’s one success in life was a book called The Gentle Savage, which made something of a stir when it was published in 1936. He wrote it after a visit to southern Sudan, where an old Sandhurst chum, Jack Poole, was Assistant Commissioner. Liberally illustrated with photographs of the local Dinka tribespeople with no clothes on, the frontispiece was a painting by Wyndham of a Dinka herdsman holding a spear and displaying an impressive set of genitals. When Poole returned to England, Wyndham arranged a dinner for him in a room at the Savoy fitted for the occasion with palm trees, a camp-bed hung with a mosquito net, and two tall Africans with painted faces, spears, and loincloths in attendance. The guests were summoned by tom-toms to eat peanut soup, turtle fins, aubergines and pimenti, and pawpaw and mango fool. Afterwards they watched a film made by Poole of Dinka dances which was considered ‘unsuitable for public release’.