The two Holms that stand forth4 so picturesquely5 midway in the Channel deserve some detailed6 description, for they not only form prominent objects in every view from Weston, but have a curious history. Both are favourite places for excursions by sailing skiffs or motorboats, 88and if there be those persons who cannot obtain a sufficiency of sea-bathing on Weston shores, Flat Holm affords plenty. The name, “Holm” is Norse for “island,” and remains7 evidence of the Danish descent upon these coasts in A.D. 882. The Saxon names for the isles8, as given in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, were “Stepanreolice”; and “Bradanreolice”; i.e. “Steep Reel Island,” and “Broad Reel Island”: the word “reel” being probably an allusion9 to their supposedly reel-like shape; Steep Holm a long and narrow rock, rising abruptly10, with steep and jagged limestone12 cliffs, to a height of 256 feet above the sea; and Flat Holm presenting a broad, flat, egg-like form.
It was on Steep Holm that Gildas, the bitter and melancholy13 monkish14 Celtic chronicler of the woes15 that befel Britain after the death of King Arthur, wrote his Latin complaint, Liber Querulus de Excidio Britanni?, telling how the country was overrun by the Saxon hordes17 in the fifth and sixth centuries.
In later centuries the Saxons themselves fell upon evil times, and were overcome by stronger races, or waged inconclusive defensive18 wars with other oversea marauders. Thus the isles were the scene of a hostile descent from Brittany in A.D. 918. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us, in doleful language, of the miseries19 of that time; how a numerous fleet, commanded by Earls Ohtor and Rhoald, pillaged20 either shore from these fastnesses, and how finally they were defeated 89and Earl Rhoald slain21, on the mainland; when “few of them got away, except those alone who there swam out to the ships. And then they sat down on the island of Bradanreolice, until such time as they were quite destitute22 of food; and many men died of hunger, because they could not obtain any food.” At length a famished23 remnant at last dispersed24 to South Wales and Ireland, and thus ingloriously faded out of history. Seventy years later, that is to say A.D. 988, the Danes, ravaging25 these coasts, made Steep Holm a base, and in 1066, after the Battle of Hastings, Gytha, mother of the brave but unfortunate Harold, took refuge here from the Norman.
Steep Holm, one and a half miles round, is not an easy place to approach, having only two landings. It is the nearest of the two from Weston, being but three miles offshore26, while Flat Holm is five and a half miles distant. The area of Steep Holm is, roughly, seventy acres. Geographically27 it is situated28 in the parish of Brean. It is the property of Mr. Kemeys-Tynte, of Cefn Mably, Cardiff, and is partly leased to the War Office, which maintains six heavy batteries here; the Gordon, Rudder Rock, Split Rock, Laboratory, Summit, and Tombstone forts, mounted with modern heavy guns, crowning the cliffs. Here also is a Lloyd’s signalling station, together with an inn, formerly29 a residence built by Mr. Kemeys-Tynte, who at one time resided here.
Steep Holm was formerly known as the home of the single peony, a wild flower peculiar30 to the 90island; but enthusiastic botanists31 would appear to have by this time collected it so extensively from the wild, ivy-hung cliffs that it is not now to be found. But wild birds, of aquatic32 and other varieties, still abound33. Scanty34 remains of an obscure fourteenth-century priory, in the shape of a dilapidated wall with no architectural features, are left. A ruined inn, roofless, a melancholy sight to thirsty souls, is left on the island, relic35 of the illegitimate enterprise of a fugitive36 publican and sinner, who, fleeing to this sanctuary37 for debtors38, outside the ordinary jurisdiction39 of the petty courts, imagined himself, wrongly as it appeared, also beyond the reach of the Inland Revenue.
Flat Holm is geographically and politically in South Wales, is the property of the Marquess of Bute, and is situated in the parish of St. Mary, Cardiff. Once a year the vicar and curate of St. Mary’s visit the island and hold service in the barracks. Four batteries are situated on the island: the Castle Rock, Farm, Lighthouse and Well batteries. The tall white lighthouse that shows up so prominently from the shore at Weston is situated on Flat Holm, and rises to a height of a hundred and fifty-six feet. A singular phenomenon obscured the light in February 1902, when a shower of sticky whitish-grey mud fell and completely covered the lantern. Scientific men explained this happening as due to a portion of a dust-shower driving from the Sahara, and being converted into mud by the Channel mists. 91A day’s hard work was necessary before the glass was properly cleaned.
A light was first shown here in 1737, when it consisted of a brazier of burning coals; no very effectual beacon40 on foggy nights. Nor was it greatly improved by the early years of the nineteenth century, for it was then still possible for such disasters as that of the William and Mary to happen. This unfortunate ship was wrecked41 in 1817, between Flat Holm and Lavernock Point, which marks the extremity42 of Brean Down; and sixty lives were then lost.
The present light, of the occulting variety, has a power of 50,000 candles, and is visible for eighteen miles.
The total population of Flat Holm is twenty. Here is an inn. There are two fresh-water springs on the island.
There is much charm in the curious islanded and semi-islanded features of the Weston outlook. Boldly rising from sea-level to the left of the long front of the town, are the great hunchbacked masses of Brean Down and Uphill.
Uphill stands romantically at the mouth of the Axe43, marked from great distances by its abrupt11 hill rising to a hundred feet above the plain, but looking much loftier. It is made further noticeable by the ruined church that stands prominently on its barren summit. The seaward side is scarred by limestone quarries44 into the likeness45 of cliffs, at whose feet the turbid46 waters of the Axe crawl sluggishly47 to the sea, 92between deep, muddy banks. This was the site of a Roman station and port, whence the lead and other minerals mined by those strenuous48 ancients on the Mendip hills were shipped. From Old Sarum, a distance of fifty-five miles, a Roman road has been traced, going by Charterhouse-on-Mendip, and ending here. Antiquaries give the name of the Roman station as Ad Axium, following the lead of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who himself invented the name. Still on the hilltop, near the church, may be traced the earthworks that once enclosed the Roman fort, and many coins of that period have been found here. Down below is a limestone cavern49 accidentally discovered in 1826, when it was found to contain bones of the hy?na and other animals long extinct in Britain: long centuries before ever the Romans came.
UPHILL.
In Domesday Book Uphill is found as “Opopille,” a form which takes the place-name almost entirely50 out of the category of names descriptive of the physical features of the spot, and places it in that of personal names. For “Uphill” is, in short, not what it seems, and does by no means refer, in its true form, to the hill. It is, reduced to the name first given, “Hubba’s Pill”; that is to say, Hubba’s Creek51, or harbour. All creeks52, and many small streams on either side of the Bristol Channel, are “pills.” This particular name was first conferred in A.D. 882, the year when these Channel coasts in general were attacked by Danish raiders under the leadership 93of one Hubba, who was slain in battle with Alfred the Great, either near Appledore, on the North Devon Coast, at a place still known as “Bloody Corner,” or at Cannington, near the river Parret, in the neighbourhood of Bridgwater, supposed to be the “Cynuit” of ancient chronicles where the “heathenmen” were also utterly53 defeated by the great King.
Those sea-rovers were naturally attracted by the safe harbours afforded by such estuaries54 as these of the Parret and Axe, and laid up their piratical craft here. Probably Hubba’s flotilla first anchored in the Axe before moving on to final disaster at Cynuit; and the stay, it might be supposed, could not have been short, for the place to have been given his name. Moreover, between Uphill and Bleadon we have the ferry known at this day as “Hobbs’s Boat,” this name itself hiding, in another corrupted55 form, that of the ancient chieftain.
Here, then, is good news for the Hobbses of modern times, writhing56 perhaps under the possession of so ungainly and apparently57 plebeian58 a name, and wishing they were Mount joys or Mauleverers, or something of equally aristocratic sound. Any Hobbs may, it is clear, derive59 from Norse berserkers, and who knows but Biggs and Triggs also, and their like!
Oh! what a chance of high romance
Lies hid in names like Hobbs;
94And Viking blood its daring flood
Crusaders’ dash with conduct rash
Per contra, oft a noble name
And Rosenberg is “Rossiter,”
Cohen becomes “Colquhoun.”
Around Park Lane, with might and main,
That “Gordon” may be Guggenheim,
And “Mervyn,” “Mosenbag.”
Romance we trace in commonplace,
And fact that custom shocks.
Thus we come daily face-to-face,
Thus again we have, in the undoubted derivation of the name of Uphill, another instance of that eternal truth: “Things are not always what they seem.” Yet who, looking at this most notable hill, rising so suddenly from the surrounding levels, would doubt, without the evidence of ancient forms, that the name was and could be nothing else than descriptive of the peculiarly striking geography of the spot?
The Norman clerks who, travelling from place to place, compiled Domesday Book from information received on the spot, very often made a singular hash of the place-names they heard from the Saxon, who spoke66 what was to those newcomers a difficult language. “Opopille,” the best those Norman emissaries could make of “Hubba’s 95Pill,” sounds very like a sudden and violent Norman appearance, and the shaking of some unfortunate Saxon churl67, with the rough question put to him. “Vat is zat which you call zis place here, hein?” and the reply, “Oh, sir! don’t shus-shake me like that: ’Ubba-pup-pille, sir.”
The ruined church of St. Nicholas has not been in that condition so long as might be supposed. It was in use until April 5th, 1846. From Norman times it had stood here, and the religious fervour of many generations had proved easily equal to this arduous68 climb to the hilltop, a very real exercise, alike of piety69 and of the body. But hilltop churches must in modern times expect less faithful attendance, and must be resigned to compete, on terms disadvantageous to themselves, with dissenting70 chapels72 more fortunately situated in the levels. Thus, when, in the first half of the nineteenth century, the roofs of the old church of Uphill were discovered to be in a highly dilapidated condition, a long-sought opportunity was seized to abandon the building, which was otherwise not in any desperate structural73 condition. A new church was accordingly built below, and the old building unroofed and left to the winds of heaven and the fowls74 of the air. Even the old font was left here to unregarded desecration75 for a number of years. The chancel, it will be observed, has been re-roofed to serve as a mortuary chapel71; for the churchyard still receives the bodies of parishioners. Stoutly76 the ancient walls yet stand, and sharp to this day are the carvings77 96of the Norman north porch and the grim, uncanny faces of the uncouth78 gargoyles79 that look out over Weston and the bay.
Brean Down, that huge, almost islanded hill—a sort of miniature Gibraltar—that rises from the Axe marshes80 and the sand-flats opposite Uphill, to a height of 321 feet, looks from Weston, and from Uphill itself a place quite easy to arrive at, but, as sheer matter of fact, no one can reach it by road under nine miles, by way of Bleadon and Brean village. In a direct line from Uphill, across the river Axe, Brean Down is only about a mile and a half away. The readiest method of reaching this spot is by the ferry across the Axe at the end of Weston sands, a threepenny passage, generally, at low water, the matter of walking along planks81 laid in the mud, and a pull of three or four boat’s lengths. And then you have the breezy isolation82 of all Brean Down before you; and you will have it very much to yourself. Wild birds and wild flowers are the only habitants of the Down, once you have left the farmhouse83 on the flats behind, but the place has been the subject of not a few ambitious schemes. The summit was fortified84 in 1867, but suddenly ceased to be so in July 1900, when the magazine was blown up by a soldier firing his rifle into it. Whether he did this by accident, as a novel way of committing suicide, or as an ill-advised joke, does not appear, because there was nothing left of him from which to seek an explanation.
97A grand scheme was formulated85 in 1864, which a fine harbour was to be built under the lee of the Down, with piers87, quays88, and all the usual appurtenances of a steam-packet station, together with a railway from the Great Western. The huge sum of ￡365,000 was expended89 upon the pier86, but the scheme eventually came to nothing, and the derelict works were finally destroyed in the storms of December 1872. So those far-distant merchants, the pre-Roman Ph?nicians, who are said to have used this spot as a commercial port, are not immediately likely to have any successors.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
shipping
|
|
| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
picturesquely
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
detailed
|
|
| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
isles
|
|
| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
allusion
|
|
| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
abrupt
|
|
| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
limestone
|
|
| n.石灰石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
monkish
|
|
| adj.僧侣的，修道士的，禁欲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
woes
|
|
| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
hordes
|
|
| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
defensive
|
|
| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
miseries
|
|
| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
pillaged
|
|
| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
slain
|
|
| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
destitute
|
|
| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
famished
|
|
| adj.饥饿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
dispersed
|
|
| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
ravaging
|
|
| 毁坏( ravage的现在分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
offshore
|
|
| adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
geographically
|
|
| adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
situated
|
|
| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
botanists
|
|
| n.植物学家，研究植物的人( botanist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
aquatic
|
|
| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
abound
|
|
| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
scanty
|
|
| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
relic
|
|
| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
fugitive
|
|
| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
sanctuary
|
|
| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
debtors
|
|
| n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
jurisdiction
|
|
| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
beacon
|
|
| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
wrecked
|
|
| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
quarries
|
|
| n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
likeness
|
|
| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
turbid
|
|
| adj.混浊的，泥水的，浓的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
sluggishly
|
|
| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
strenuous
|
|
| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
cavern
|
|
| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
creeks
|
|
| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
estuaries
|
|
| （江河入海的）河口，河口湾( estuary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
corrupted
|
|
| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
writhing
|
|
| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
plebeian
|
|
| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
derive
|
|
| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
eke
|
|
| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
inflame
|
|
| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
loon
|
|
| n.狂人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
rumour
|
|
| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
paradox
|
|
| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
churl
|
|
| n.吝啬之人；粗鄙之人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
arduous
|
|
| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
piety
|
|
| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
dissenting
|
|
| adj.不同意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
chapels
|
|
| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
structural
|
|
| adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
fowls
|
|
| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
desecration
|
|
| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
stoutly
|
|
| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
carvings
|
|
| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
gargoyles
|
|
| n.怪兽状滴水嘴( gargoyle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
marshes
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
planks
|
|
| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
isolation
|
|
| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
farmhouse
|
|
| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
fortified
|
|
| adj. 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
formulated
|
|
| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
piers
|
|
| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
quays
|
|
| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
expended
|
|
| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |