Rural Rides: William Cobbett / Hampshire Reading Detectives

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Rural Rides: William Cobbett Find!

William Cobbett was born in 1763, the son of a farmer and innkeeper. He began his career as a journalist in America, where he had fled after blowing the whistle on military corruption. He returned to England in 1800 and in 1802 began publishing a weekly newsletter, the Political Register. This was Cobbett's main outlet for expressing his opinions. His motto was: 'Put me on a gridiron and broil me alive if I am wrong!

Cobbett settled in Botley in 1805, in a house called Fairthorn Farm, opposite Botley Mills. While living there he combined his career as a political journalist with farming and family life, bringing up seven children. His house was demolished in the mid 19th century, although some outbuildings remain; the gardens are in the grounds of Botley Hill. He was elected to Parliament in 1832, but died in 1835.

He declared that Botley

'had everything in it that he loved and nothing that he hated - it had neither workhouse nor barber, nor attorney, nor a justice of the peace; but he could walk along a field with the primroses and bluebells spangling on the banks on both sides of him, a thousand linnets singing in a spreading oak above his head...' (in Arthur Mee's The Kings England, 1949, page 70).

Cobbett saw himself as a champion of traditional rural society, against the transformation due to the Industrial Revolution, and spent some time travelling around the south on horseback. He liked to avoid the turnpike roads when he could, choosing a route which 'provided ample opportunity to inspect the crops and fencing of the landowner whose estates he passed, which occasioned many political outbursts and diatribes for the benefits of his readers' (in Margaret Greeen's Hampshire Treasury, 1972, page 22).

In Rural Rides, published in 1830, William Cobbett describes the many journeys he undertook, criss-crossing the south of England. The 1967 edition, edited by George Woodcock, follows William Cobbett's original edition and it is a fascinating read. Woodcock has retained Cobbett's idiosyncratic use of capitals and italics.

Extract from Rural Rides: Wednesday, Sept. 25th 1822

'THIS morning I set of, in rather a drizzling rain, from Kensington, on horseback, accompanied by my son, with an intention of going to Uphusband, near Andover, which is situated in the north-west corner of Hampshire. It is very true that I could have gone to Uphusband by travelling only about sixty-six miles, and in the space of about eight hours. But my object was, not to see inns and turnpike roads, but to see the country; to see the farmers at home, and to see the labourers in the fields; and to do this you must go either on foot or on horseback.'

WINCHESTER, Saturday, September 28^th.1822

'Just after day-light we started for this place. By the turnpike we could have come through Basingstoke by turning of to the right, or through Alton and Alresford by turning of to the left. Being naturally disposed towards a middle course, we chose to wind down through Upton-Gray, Preston-Candover, Chilton-Candover, Brown-Candover, then down to Ovington, and into Winchester by the north entrance.'

'... along through this country the people appear in general to be very neat. It is a country for sheep, which are always sound and good upon this iron soil. The trees grow well, where there are trees. The woods and coppices are not numerous; but they are good, particularly the ash, which always grows well upon the chalk.'

But as Cobbett is 'quitting the Candovers' he stops to pass comment on something less pleasing: Alexander Baring's estate.

... 'who has enclosed, as a sort of outwork to his park, a pretty little down called Northington Down, in which he has planted, here and there, a clump of trees. But Mr. Baring, not reflecting that woods are not like funds, to be made at a heat, has planted his trees too large; so that they are covered with moss, are dying at the top, and are literally growing downward instead of upward. In short, this enclosure and plantation have totally destroyed the beauty of this part of the estate.'

The day after arriving at Winchester, Cobbett went to the Swan Inn (Sutton Scotney, pulled down in the 1960s) to 'dine with the farmers', where he tells us that 'the state of the country was well talked over'.

Cobbett wrote about the farming scenes he experienced - where machinery was being introduced, reducing the need for workers: salaries were plummeting and the working conditions were grim. He cared passionately about the plight of humble farm labourers and although the chalk land farmers of Hampshire were to be described as the finest in the county, he sought to champion the 'wretches' they employed. He reported on the developing tensions, predicting the rural or 'swing' riots - which began in August 1830 after a poor harvest and the introduction of the threshing machine in Kent. The rampage spread to Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire.

A petition for parliamentary reform was finally drawn up, and in September 1830 at The Swan Inn, it was signed by some 177 men of the parishes of Wonston, Barton Stacey and Bullington, before it was delivered to King William IV. The other coaching inn, the Coach and Horses, which stands across The Square from the site of the White Swan, has been chosen as the place on which to erect a plaque to commemorate the history of that time. Many of the names of those who signed the petition are still the names of the village families.

Cobbett chose to celebrate the successful passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 at Sutton Scotney and the Hampshire Chronicle, records the occasion.

18 August 2009 from Cordelia Gray

3 Comments

Rachel the editor | August 23, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply

I've just finished reading Richard Ingrams' highly entertaining biography of Cobbett and am about to start on Rural Rides. I love his habit of describing a particularly beautiful stretch of countryside and then taking a very lengthy digression in order to make political points, damn his opponents, and repeat his well-known opinions on topics like the Poor Law Amendment Act, paper money, and the uselessness of the parson at Botley. It's rather like having Christmas dinner with a belligerent and slightly tipsy relative!

Cordelia Gray | August 23, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply

Yes, in Rural Rides we frequently come across the Botley parson (Richard Baker). Cobbett wanted to horsewhip him in his pulpit for 'talking such nonsense'. Baker was such an enemy of Cobbett, that when Cobbett was released from Newgate Prison, he refused to let the villagers have the key to the church when they wanted to ring the bells.

Philip Twidle | November 10, 2009 9:59 AM | Reply

Hey guys. I really like reading books about love and the country. I especially love Rural Rides. Sometimes I read this book to my mother after supper when we are eating soup. Chicken and mushroom to be exact

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