PREFACE. HE HANDBOOK OF THE ENVIRONS OF LONDON contains an account written in every instance from personal examination and inquiry-of every town and village, and all places of historical, antiquarian, and artistic interest, within a circuit of twenty miles round London, and of the more important places lying four or five miles beyond that boundary. For the Metropolis an inner circle of four miles has been taken, and places within that circle are not included in the Environs. These limits comprise the whold of Middlesex outside the capital, a large part of Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire, and smaller portions of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. The district thus marked out is probably unrivalled in scenes of historical interest and personal and literary associations; in existing palaces, manorhouses, and mansions, and the sites of those which have been swept away; in abbeys and churches; the homes and graves of remarkable men; in beautiful and characteristic scenery; in collections of pictures and works of art; in national workshops and arsenals, and places of popular amusement and resort. How rich and varied are the subjects and associations, the lightest draft on the memory will determine. Runnimede and the Great Charter, Tilbury Fort and the Armada, Uxbridge and its abortive Treaty, the Rye House and its Plot, at once recur to every one's recollection. We think of Windsor Castle, glorious in itself and its surroundings, and the residence of the long line of British monarchs from the Conqueror to Victoria; of Hampton Court, witness of the grandeur and the fall of Wolsey, the abode of his imperious master, of William III. and Mary, of Anne and the early Georges; the Richmond of Henry VII. and James I., of George II. and Queen Caroline, and Merlin's Cave, Lord Hervey and Stephen Duck; of Greenwich, the birthplace and the favourite seat of Elizabeth, its Hospital and Observatory; the sites of the royal palaces of Eltham, Havering-atte-Bower, Oatlands, and Nonsuch; the Theobalds and b |