Sunday, August 09, 2020

More From the CTC

I've recently received another of my opportunist purchases of CTC artefacts from times gone by.  This is a 'Scenic Atlas and Gazeteer'.  It's not in top condition, and has obviously had a bit of use, but it's an interesting piece and enjoyable to browse.

It consists of a series of hand-drawn maps, covering the whole country, section by section, and a gazetteer giving a few words about places of interest on each map.  Here's the map for our area:

It's meant for planning, more detailed maps would be needed to draw an actual route, but I think that it still works today.  Here's what it has to say about Surrey and Kent:

SURREY.  Becoming urbanised as far south-west as Caterham, Leatherhead and Weybridge.  Chief scenic features are (i) North Downs (q.v.) - Westerham to Farnham; (ii) the sandy hills - Leith Hill, Hindhead etc ( q.v.);  (iii) extensive and characteristic heath and common country - Oxshott to Bagshot and Aldershot.  Pretty and unspoiled pottering country along the Sussex border west of the Brighton Road (A23).

KENT.  Mostly varied, picturesque, and interesting, with much beautiful hill country.  Rather tame east of Canterbury - see Thanet.  Very charming old towns, villages, farmsteads etc.  Best features: (i) North Downs (q.v.) - Westerham to Dover; (ii) the Weald (q.v.) - Edenbridge to Tenterden; (iii) all the coast - notably Walmer to Dymchurch.  Romney Marsh (q.v.) is curious.

It isn't dated.  Reginald Wellbye, the author, produced a series of guides for cyclists and motorists from 1914 to 1954, but from the font and general presentation I would guess that it was 1930s.

Mark


 

1 comment:

Neil C said...

Route 109 looks like a good day out, Guildford to Rochester using all the hills we know and love!