East Farleigh. Steel engraving. Drawing by Tomblesons and engraved by P. Sands. From Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway.
Text accompanying the engraving
Flowing through a small bridge, the stream winds through diversified and pleasing scenery, until it reaches East-Farleigh. The ancient Gothic bridge, tufted with moss, and in parts shadowed with ivy, with the adjoining lock, and, on a gentle eminence, the village church, combine in forming a picturesque effect, and which has been attempted to be portrayed in the accompanying plate. The coimtry now assumes the appearance of a richly cultivated garden, when, passing tne pleasant village of Tovil, situated on some rising, ground and commanding a wide extent of scenery, the stream becomes compressed by the opposing banks, though it retains considerable depth of water, until its course is impeded by Maidstone lock: previous, however, to its erection the current was affected by the tide as high as Farleigh, and occasionally, under peculiar circumstances, has ascended the stream as far as St. Helen's, Barming; now it only reaches Maidstone lock. [81]
John E. Lang writes to say that he has a colored version of this plate accompanied by an elaborate decorative border. His engraving credits the same publisher — Tombleson & Co. — but names a different engraver (T. Bishop), which suggests that either Tombleson hired a different engraver for independent plates or, less likely, that this second engraver did only the decorative border. Since we do not know the size of the plate in Fearnside's Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames, we cannot tell if Mr. Lang's engraving and that in the book come from the same plate or from two different ones.
Text and formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of California Library and the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]
Bibliography
Fearnside, W. G. Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway, Engraved on Steel by the First Artists. London: Black and Armstrong, [n.d. after 1837]. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Berkley Library. Web. 30 March 2012.
Last modified 4 June 2013