The Environs of London 1897
Contents
- The unnamed editor thanks the people behind the Handbook, singling out route-writers C. W. Brown and W. S. Holding, the Burbidge family and accountant Mr. Naughton of Harrod's Stores for backing the venture, printers Tillotson & Son for advice on the maps, and aristocratic patrons including the Duchess of Albany and the Archbishop of Canterbury who lent photographs of their estates for illustration.
- A prefatory essay, signed J. W. Gilbart-Smith, in praise of cycling's moral and social benefits — democratising travel for rich and poor, teaching self-reliance, and opening the English countryside to city-dwellers — closing with an original sonnet on spring and hope.
- The Handbook's opening route follows the old pilgrims' road via Deptford, Blackheath, Dartford, Rochester and Chatham to Canterbury, taking in the history of Lambeth Palace, the ruined nunnery at Dartford, Rochester Castle and Cathedral, and Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.
- Extends the Canterbury route on to the Kent coast via Littlebourne, Wingham, Sandwich, Sholden and Deal, describing Walmer Castle (built by Henry VIII as coastal defence), the room where Pitt and Nelson met, and the room in which Wellington died.
- Describes the direct road to Maidstone via Farningham, Wrotham, Riverhead, Seal and Ightham, starting from London Bridge and the Old Kent Road, with notes on New Cross Gate and Maidstone's Perpendicular-style parish church of All Saints.
- Traces the old road toward Rye via Lewisham, Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, a hilly route with a digression on the dissolution-era pensions paid to Kentish abbots and priors along the way.
- A wry account of the road through Godstone and East Grinstead to Lewes, followed by the town's Norman castle, the ruins of St. Pancras Priory, and the 1264 Battle of Lewes between Simon de Montfort and Henry III.
- Covers one of the old coaching roads toward Brighton as far as Reigate via Sutton, describing it as the prettiest of the routes converging on the Sussex coast.
- Follows the Brighton Road from Westminster Bridge through Kennington, Brixton, Streatham and Croydon toward Crawley, with an aside on Beerbohm Tree's new Her Majesty's Theatre at the Haymarket.
- Runs via Clapham, Tooting, Merton and Epsom (with a digression debunking the supposed origin of Epsom salts) toward Dorking and Horsham, noted for its poultry breeding and fossil-bearing stone quarries.
- Describes the popular Ripley Road via Esher to Kingston and on to Guildford on the River Wey, noting the town's royal and Onslow-family history.
- Takes in Hammersmith and Kew on the way to Hampton Court, dwelling on Cardinal Wolsey's palace and its collection of paintings.
- Gives alternative roads to Bagshot via Weybridge, Addlestone, Ottershaw, Chobham and Windlesham, with notes on Bagshot's former royal residence and the geological Bagshot Beds.
- The Great Western road out of Hyde Park Corner via Slough, Maidenhead, Henley-on-Thames and Dorchester to the university city of Oxford.
- Follows the Wendover road as far as Tattling End before branching via Beaconsfield (Edmund Burke's burial place) and Hughenden (where the Earl of Beaconsfield, Disraeli, is buried) to High Wycombe.
- Starts from Marble Arch through Notting Hill and Shepherd's Bush toward Denham and Chalfont St. Giles, continuing on to Amersham and Wendover in the Chilterns.
- Runs from Piccadilly and the Edgware Road through Watford and Berkhamsted to Tring, passing Great Missenden and Wendover, with a local legend about the founding of Wendover's church.
- Describes two roads to St. Albans, via Barnet or via Edgware and Elstree, continuing on to Dunstable, with notes on Edgware's Canons Park estate.
- Covers the old northern high road from Smithfield through Highgate and Barnet toward Hatfield and on to Hitchin, recounting the tradition of the Highgate 'swearing on the horns'.
- Follows the road through Tottenham, Edmonton and Waltham Cross (with a detour to Waltham Abbey and Harold's Bridge) to the county town of Hertford, noting Alfred the Great's castle there.
- A short thirteen-mile suburban route via Whitechapel, Clapton, Leytonstone and Chingford to Waltham Abbey, traditional burial place of King Harold after Hastings.
- The alternative, more scenic route to Chelmsford via Leytonstone, Woodford and Epping Forest, taking in Copt Hall and Greenstead's chestnut-walled church before Chipping Ongar, birthplace of Jane Taylor.
- Continues from Writtle into Essex via Chelmsford, Witham and Kelvedon to Colchester, discussed as England's most ancient recorded town.
- An essay by Rosamunde von Oelrichs, author of 'A Woman on Wheels', on cycling for women — covering suitable dress, corsets and skirts, choice of a reliable machine (recommending Rudge-Whitworth and the Nelson), and a table of gear ratios.
- A buyer's-guide chapter running alphabetically through cycle fittings — bells, brakes, lamps, luggage carriers, mudguards, saddles (praising the Brooks), tyre levers, cyclometers and cycling clothing — naming specific makes and prices.
- A condensed mileage-and-landmark digest recapping the book's routes (Canterbury, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Cambridge, Lewes, Reigate, Horsham, Kingston and Guildford, Hampton Court, Bagshot, Oxford, High Wycombe, Amersham, St. Albans and Dunstable, Hatfield and Hitchin, Hertford, and Chelmsford and Colchester) in tabular form, giving cumulative mileage, inns and points of interest stage by stage.