The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries: To-Day and in Days of Old

audiobook

The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries: To-Day and in Days of Old

by Charles G. (Charles George) Harper

EN·~7 hours·41 chapters

Chapters

41 total
1

THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD

7:20
2

THE ROAD TO PORTSMOUTH

1:10
3

I

8:45
4

II

5:49
5

III

17:30
6

IV

9:09
7

V

13:35
8

VI

16:01
9

VII

6:54
10

VIII

6:05

Description

Through two years of digging through dusty archives and wandering the old route, the narrator weaves a lively portrait of the Portsmouth Road and its many off‑shoots. The work captures the recent surge of enthusiasm for historic coach‑roads, sparked by modern cyclists and amateur coaches who crave the romance of a bygone era. Illustrated with the author's own sketches and reproduced period prints, the book offers a visual companion to the prose, bringing taverns, way‑stations and countryside vistas to life.

Listeners will be guided along the same path, hearing anecdotes about the road’s role in commerce, the daily hardships of travelers, and the subtle transformations brought by steam and later automobiles. The narrative balances scholarly detail with a conversational tone, making the history of an ordinary thoroughfare feel like a grand adventure. It invites reflection on how each generation romanticizes the past while confronting the inevitable march of progress.

Details

Language

en

Duration

~7 hours (434K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.)

Release date

2012-03-24

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

About the author

Charles G. (Charles George) Harper

Charles G. (Charles George) Harper

1863–1943

Known for lively, self-illustrated books about Britain's roads, coasts, and old inns, this English writer and artist turned travel writing into a visual adventure. His work blends local history, anecdote, and pen-and-ink observation in a way that still feels companionable.

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