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the-deeds-to-shibden · 4 years

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Wednesday 28 August 1839

[In this installment Anne drives much too fast and consequently has a spat with a postboy over her reckless undertaking! Pigs’ gourmand preferences, the relative merits of several types of firewood, and a nouveau riche’s lack of style are then discussed, and a very pretty village and impressive waterfall are admired by Anne and Ann. We also learn who gets a good deal of the profit from Dannemora mine and some of the things he does with the money.]

[up at] 6 50/”

[to bed at] 11 50/”

fine but dull Fahrenheit 61º at 7 a.m. all ready at 7 3/4 – breakfast at 8 – Suderby est 3/4 de mile d’ici – Mr. Tamm’s house called Ӧsterby, and the village also so called the house close upon the lake – See and buy plan of Rome – bought for the governor of Upsala for 10 rigs dollars off from Ӧsterby at 9 – comfortable there – bill 6 Dollars Banco and gave the woman 12 skillings

boy from Bro uncivil Rowe about my driving so fast – did the 1/2 mile 25 minutes so had to change here or were to have gone to the next station – by law must drive 1 mile in 1 1/2 hour* – nice drive to Bro – good farming and crops and land, and well inhabited for Sweden – Bro (pronounced Broo) a very small scattered hamlet

Nice foresty drive from Bro to Hokambo the station house and a cottage or 2 – one might perhaps sleep here if necessary – Scotch fir called Tall (pronounced Tahl) good for burning and ship building and charcoal – Spruce called Graun not good for burning – dangerous because flies off in sparks – Pigs very fond of the roots of brackens (orm graes, serpent grass) Preserve grapes in ant-hill stuff – our peasant rents of Mr. Tamm of arable land what will sow 6 tonneaus or sacks of corn – 1 tonneau = 500 to 600 ells square – and he had pasture that would keep 6 cows tho’ he has but 3 – he has 5 horses and 9 sheep – roads 8 or 9 feet wide – but at 2 1/4 get into wide road for a while – at 2 25/” enter gate into the very pretty of Löfsta – Count Jer, pronounced (Yare) the richest man in Sweden to whom 1/3 of the Dannemora mines belongs – large handsome 3 story high barn – forges shut nobody there – very pretty village and lake – avenue of good trees a sort of maple common everywhere here and ash and elm – neat, yellow-washed mortar-splashed cottages of the Count’s workmen good scattered village – then the brick chateau with pediment in front towards charged with the Count’s arms and supporters – pretty shrubby ground and gardens - hot-houses etc. large orange trees in tubs, and everything in good taste and style – much better than chez Tam who got his house and a great deal by his wife and bought a great deal himself – he and his son associated in the business and the son has what came by his mother – Löfsta with its chateau the prettiest nicest village and place we have seen in Sweden –

Here at Skerpling (pronounced Sherpling) at 3 37/” – pass several ant-hills in the forests today – like little haycocks perhaps 2 feet 6 inches high and as much in diameter at the bottom – very fine day – wrote while we change horses – fjord right – then foresty to (at 5 20/” ) picturesque village – good church scattered good little village – then forest – till at 6 35/” alight for 1/4 hour a little above the bridge and go down to the saw mill to see the fall of the Dal at the hamlet of Elfkerby – no fall at Trolhättan equal to it – but a place to see it from wanted – we scrambled for a point de vue from the end of the saw mill over the water goit – Charles xiii’s Bro and Charles John has diminished (lowered) the toll in 1816 – at Elfkerby at 7 11/” – single house – not large – had it looked tempting would have slept there and gone to breakfast tomorrow at Geffle – the town of Elfkerby with its church straggles in a long line along the East side of the river called East Elfkerby and what is on this side (a few scattered houses) called says our hobbletehoy horseman West Elfkerby – the fall and the scenery immediately around – the river – the town of Elfkerby – the surrounding woods etc. very fine bit of scenery – a drop or 2 of rain at the bridge toll-house but holds off – latterly darkish – at Geffle at 9 55/” no good doings –

Anne’s marginal notes:

Plan of Rome

Scotch fir

Löfsta

anthills

Fall of the Dal

Note on Anne’s speeding:

*The miles referred to here are Scandinavian miles: in 1839, one Scandinavian mile equalled 10.688 km. Anne’s account enables us to calculate that she was driving at the rate of 12.83 km/h (or about 8 English miles per hour), while the postboy, and the law, expected her to do 7.13 km/h (or 4.4 mph) between stations. If this seems rather on the slow side, later on Anne will tell us how much she enjoys travelling on Finnish roads because gates are infrequent, whereas in Sweden a gate tends to pop up in the road every half an English mile or so. Having to slow down and faff around with a gate this often would certainly tend to make for a low speed of travel, as would the narrowness of road - Anne seems to think 8 or 9 feet does not make for a wide road.

WYAS pages: SH:7/ML/TR/13/0013 SH:7/ML/TR/13/0014

Lövsta Bruk, by Johan Fredrik Julin (1798-1843); the prettiest and nicest place Anne and Ann had yet seen in Sweden:

A view of Älvkarleby Falls from the saw mill (where Anne and Ann saw them from) by Elias Martin (1739-1818); the waterfalls were destroyed in their original form when they were harnessed for a power station in 1915:

#anne lister #ann walker #travelnotes1839 #sweden1839 #anne lister code breaker #gentleman jack #annelister #annwalker

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