Close by is the village of Grayshott, now fast growing into a place of
considerable residential importance. Following the road Londonwards, one
arrives in a few hundred yards at the very highest point of the road
over Hindhead, after which it drops gently, skirting the magnificent
hollow known as the "Devil's Punchbowl." On the left-hand side, in the
loneliest part of the road, is the gruesome tombstone which marks the
spot where an unknown sailor was murdered and robbed while tramping from
Portsmouth to London. This stone and its surroundings, it will be
remembered, are mentioned in _Nicholas Nickleby_, in the account of the
walk of Nicholas and Smike from London to Portsmouth. Close by, on the
opposite side of the road, there is a rough sandy track--once the old
coach road--which leads up to the stone cross on the extreme summit of
the Hindhead--900 feet above sea-level--where the murderers of the
sailor were executed, and hung in chains. The view from this point,
aptly named Gibbet Hill, is quite magnificent for Surrey.
On the northern slope of Blackdown--the high ridge of hills towards the
south-east--is Aldworth House, where Tennyson resided in his latter
years.
[Illustration: THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD.
Near the highest point, where it crosses Hindhead.]
SHOTTERMILL
THE HOME OF GEORGE ELIOT
=How to get there.=--Train from Waterloo Station. L. and S.W.
Railway.
=Nearest Station.=--Haslemere (1 mile by road from Shottermill
village).
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