Kalm's account of his visit to England : on his way to America in 1748 / translated by Joseph Lucas ; with two maps and several illustrations.

Pehr Kalm

Date:: 1892

Credit: Kalm's account of his visit to England : on his way to America in 1748 / translated by Joseph Lucas ; with two maps and several illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

209/520 page 179

$The houses are tolerably [T. I. p. 17g] good, and the church built in an antiquated style. Close to it was an old monastery, Kloster. At this town we saw in a gentle- man s garden the largest Tulip-tree in England, which ri\ alled the largest elms in height. The fruit however does not ripen sufficiently to be available for seed. Waltham Cross, a beautiful village an English mile from the last named place, and on the borders of Hertford- shire, for hitherto we had been in Essex. Here we saw one of England’s antiquities, a specially carved pillar, pelare, erected in former times in memory of a Queen* [Eleanor, wife of Ed. I.] Cheshunt, a small but pretty village situated an English mile from Waltham Cross. Here we saw several beautiful and costly orchards. A river, en bäck,* which was artificially dug, getting on for sixty miles through the country, flowed through this village down to London. It is partly from this river that the water is led through subterranean channels and pipes, into houses, kitchens and cellars in London. St. Albans, a tolerably large and pretty town, is 12 miles from Cheshunt, and 20 from London. It has in former times been very large and is reckoned one of the oldest towns in England, and is remarkable for its many antiquities. One of the existing churches, lemarkable for its size and architecture, särdeles byggnad, looks as if it must be very old. Close to the same church there still stands agateway, en port, which was built by the Romans during their occupation of this country. The gateway is, however, built round about, and the same house is used as a The New River. From an exact measurement made in 1723 by Mr. H. Mill, the engineer and surveyor of the N. R. Co., its extent vvas ascer- tained to be 38$ miles, 16 poles. Matthews “Hydraulia ” 1835 [J. L.] N 2$