[TO THE EDITOR. Or THE " Elmer/am-]
Sift,—We in Bristol are naturally elated by the knowledge that the Leigh Woods, with Nightingale Valley and the ancient camp, have been saved from the hand of the builder, or spoliation of any kind, through the generosity of Mr. G. A. Wills, and are to be preserved in all their wild beauty for " the reasonable enjoyment of the public." But I regret to say that you are mistaken in supposing that the Avon Gorge as a whole is safe (Spectator, January 30th). The lower end, on the Somerset side, is being more and more disfigured by gaping quarries ; and not only so, already part of the general .outline—a peculiar beauty of the Gorge as it curves away to the Severn opposite the sea-walls—has gone for ever, cut away to make the road-metal with which our public ways are badly mended. Daily those who walk along the new broad asphalte paths which now crawl like a dreadful black serpent round our beautiful downs may see "the Sublime and Beautiful carted away" (or rather carried off in barges), as Southey or Coleridge or was it Robert Hall P—saw them a century ago.—I am, Chairman of the Bristol Kyrie Society, University College, Bristol.
Pa—None of us in Bristol can verify my quotation, or trace it to its proper source. Can any of your readers help us P
Previous page
