But when we gather that a certain Marquis of Salisbury was troubled
with gout, and had frequently to resort to Bath for the "cure," and
constructed the road for his special convenience at his own expense,
we begin to understand the cause of the carving of Hatfield on the
milestones.
[Illustration: Watch House On The Bridge Bradford on Avon Wilts. 8 Oct
1908]
The study of the bridges of England seems to have been somewhat
neglected by antiquaries. You will often find some good account of a
town or village in guide-books or topographical works, but the story
of the bridges is passed over in silence. Owing to the reasons we have
already stated, old bridges are fast disappearing and are being
substituted by the hideous erections of iron and steel. It is well
that we should attempt to record those that are left, photograph them
and paint them, ere the march of modern progress, evinced by the
traction-engine and the motor-car, has quite removed and destroyed
them.
CHAPTER XV
OLD HOSPITALS AND ALMSHOUSES
There are in many towns and villages hospitals--not the large modern
and usually unsightly buildings wherein the sick are cured, with wards
all spick and span and up to date--but beautiful old buildings
mellowed with age wherein men and women, on whom the snows of life
have begun to fall thickly, may rest and recruit and take their ease
before they start on the long, dark journey from which no traveller
returns to tell to those he left behind how he fared.
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