Adventure and adventurers > Black's guide to the counties of Dorset, Devon, & Cornwall

Route 4.
ST ALLBRIDGE.
87
STALLBMDGE (population, 1901), 2 miles right, is a market
town of no great importance, but pleasantly situated on the out¬
skirts of its “ grey-wall’d park,” and along the Blandford road.
The projected Dorset Central Railway will pass a little to the
east. The Church is old and commodious. In the village street
—a double line of homely cottages—rstands a noticeable Cross,
30 feet high, and adorned with four bas-reliefs, and figures of the
Saviour, the Virgin, and St. John.
From the hill here may be enjoyed a very rich and extensive
prospect of the beautiful Vale op Blackmoor, stretching far
away into the dim blue heights, and revelling in the fantastic
shadows of luxuriant foliage. Alfred’s Tower, at Stourhead,
crowning the lofty hill of Kingsettle, 800 feet above the sea, is
a conspicuous landmark. This triangular pile of brick is T50
feet high, and is designed to commemorate Alfred the Great,
who, a.d. 879, “on this summit erected his standard against
Danish invaders.” It is about 20 miles from Stallbridge.
Of certain beauties of the vale of Blackmoor, a Dorsetshire
poet sings:—
“ The primrwose in the sheade do blow,
The cowslip in the zun,
The thyme upon the down do grow,
The clote where streams do run;
An’ where do pretty maidens grow
An’ blow, but where the tow’r
Do rise among the bricken tuns
In Blackmwore by the Stour.
“ If you vrom Wimborne took your road,
To Stower or Paladore,
An’ all the farmers’ housen show’d
Their daeters at the door;
You’d cry to bachelors at hwome—•
Here, come ; ’ithin an hour
You’ll vind ten maidens to your mind,
In Blackmwore by the Stour.”
BRANCH ROUTE—STALLBRIDGE to BLANDFORD
12 Miles.
At 2 miles from Stallbridge we cross the pleasant river Lidden
(from lyd, lud, water, and dene, a hollow). Nearly 2 miles to