CHEDDAR CLIFFS.
[To THE EDITOR OF TIM "SescrsToo.."]
SIR,—Those of us who remember Cheddar Cliffs before the quarry was opened on the north side of the road through -the
gorge will agree that the opportunity which now presents itself to the men of Somerset to save that beautiful scene from further desecration ought not to be lost. It is, I fear, true that Cheddar is not immortalised by any of our great poets. Certainly when Longfellow was compiling his book of poems of places be was unable to ascertain any passage in which Cheddar had been celebrated; but the natural poetry of
that gorge, with its silver bastions, purple dark or silver white to heaven, haunts the memory of all who have over passed
through it. We who have witnessed that quarry grow in all its hideousness of debris, and have seen the detritus of the great fall of rock, when, in consequence of blasting and quarrying three years ago, fifty thousand tons of rock were
displaced, and remember how magnificent mountain walls, where now is grassless refuse, rose out of sloping turf and flowering grass, must echo Professor Boyd-Dawk ins's words in his recent address to the Archaeological Society of Somerset :—
"When I first knew this gorge it was beautiful grass right away down to where the houses begin, and now I find a hideous scar which represents a quarry, and I quite wonder that the inhabitants round here have not had sufficient patriotism to
prevent such vandalism I really hope that for the credit of Cheddar and for the credit of the country at large, this horrible desecration of Cheddar will be put an end to."
Through the exertions of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty Professor Boyd- Dawkins's wish may become fact, if only there are a thousand people in Somersetshire willing to pay a sovereign, or two hundred people willing to pay 25. For arrangements have been made with the owner of the quarry, though the lease cannot be cancelled for three years, to secure his portion
of the Cheddar Cliffs for all time. The two adjacent owners either side of him have assured us that they have no present intention of allowing quarries to be opened on their land. We have reason to believe that the saving of this middle portion of the cliffs will go far to strengthen their hands in the desired direction of leaving well alone. There is no reason at all that such stone as is required for the purpose of road-mending should not be obtained elsewhere; but no one who knows the friability of the stone can possibly look upon Cheddar limestone as an ideal road-metal, and the great dust-cloud-compellers, the motor-cars, have certainly not added to its popularity.
Meanwhile it remains for lovers of the finest limestone gorge in Great Britain to band together and determine that our children's children shall enjoy what their forefathers have enjoyed "secure from rash assault." The National Trust feels that it is not only Somersetshire that can justly be appealed to ; but those who know how both from Bristol on the one hand, and from Weston-super-Mare on the other, visitors come to enjoy the solemn beauty of the Cheddar defile may naturally look to those neighbourhoods especially to contribute to so patriotic a cause.
Will you allow me to say that donations should be sent either to myself, or to Nigel Bond, Esq., secretary to the National Trust, 25 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., and that cheques should be drawn in favour of the National Trust and crossed " National Provincial Bank of England" P—I am,
Sir, &c., H. D. RAWNSLEY. Crosthwaite Vicarage, Keswick.
[Canon Rawnsley and the Society for whom be speaks— the National Trust—have done splendid work already, but they can hardly accomplish anything finer than saving Cheddar Cliffs from destruction. There is no more magnificent piece of rock scenery in these islands, and even the great mountain regions of the Continent can show nothing more exquisite. Size does not produce beauty, or even grandeur, in Nature any more than in art. If every man and woman who has seen and felt the charm of the Sornersetshire limestone gorge, and can afford a guinea, will send it to the National Trust, Cheddar will be saved.—En. Spectator.]
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