author
1873–1949
A British travel writer with a feel for landscape and local history, best known for books that roam through Sussex, Wessex, and the countryside around London. His work blends guidebook usefulness with the pleasure of a long walk in old England.
by Edric Holmes
by Edric Holmes
Edric Edwin Holmes was a British non-fiction and topographical writer, born around 1873 and dying on May 14, 1949. He wrote about places rather than plots, focusing on the character, history, and scenery of southern England.
His best-known books include Seaward Sussex: The South Downs from End to End (1920), Wanderings in Wessex: An Exploration of the Southern Realm from Itchen to Otter (1922), and London's Countryside (1927). These works show him as a patient observer of towns, villages, roads, churches, and open country, often combining practical description with a strong sense of atmosphere.
Holmes is remembered as a guide to regional England at a time when travel writing often doubled as local history. Contemporary reviewers seem to have responded unevenly to his books, but Wanderings in Wessex in particular earned praise for the way it selected and presented its material. His books still appeal to readers who enjoy classic landscape writing and literary journeys through the English countryside.