: Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Historical Anecdotal Physiographical and Archaeological with Other Matter by Walter J Conway James Conway - Woodhall Spa (England)

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RECORDS OF WOODHALL SPA AND NEIGHBOURHOOD;

HISTORICAL, ANECDOTAL, PHYSIOGRAPHICAL, AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL, WITH OTHER MATTER.

BY J. CONWAY WALTER,

HORNCASTLE: W. K. MORTON, HIGH STREET.

INTRODUCTION.

Circumstances have given me such opportunities--and enjoyed so long--of acquiring a knowledge of Woodhall Spa, and of most matters connected with it, that I am probably stating only the unvarnished truth, when I say that no one else living could bring together the varied details, however inadequately treated, which will here be found. Some of them may seem of small importance in the eyes of many--"caviare to the general"--but I have thought it better that even these minor details should not be consigned to the limbo of the forgotten, because unrecorded.

I have approached the subject from different points of view--historical, anecdotal, naturalist, and archaeological, so as to cater for the different tastes of readers.

Inheriting an interest in Woodhall Spa, hallowed by cherished associations, my aim has been so to unfold its many attractions, even in beast, bird, and flower, as to communicate an interest in it to others as well.

In publishing a third issue of these Records, I am bound in duty to thank a wide circle of readers for the interest so far taken in the work. I had now hoped to give it a more attractive form, but the low price at which a guide-book must be sold, in order to bring it within the reach of a general public, precludes a more expensive "get-up" of the volume. The only change, therefore, has been that the edition is brought "up to date" by a few necessary corrections and additions. To future readers I would only say, in Ovidian phrase:--

Si qua meo fuerint, ut erunt, vitiosa libello, Excusata, precor, Lector amicus, habe.

J. CONWAY WALTER.

It has been remarked that the discovery of many of our medicinal springs has been due to some romantic incident, or, in other cases, to some occurrence partaking almost of the ludicrous. At the famed Carlsbad, for instance, a princely hunter pursues his stag into the lake where it has sought refuge, whereupon the unusual cries of his hounds, too eagerly breasting the waters, speedily reveal to him the strongly thermal nature of the spring which feeds the lake, and the discovery has benefited the thousands who annually frequent that health-giving resort from almost every land. On the other hand, in the case of our own Bath, although well known to the ancient Romans--as also in the later case of Bolsover--tradition avers that an unhealthy pig, instinctively "wallowing in the mire" produced by the oozing spring, and emerging from the uncleanly bath cured of its ailment, was the humble instrument to demonstrate the health-restoring power of the water, to the subsequent advantage of suffering humanity. Other cases, more or less legendary, might be adduced; let these suffice.

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