151 'A DAY IN LATE AUTUMN, - OLD BOXHILL BRIDGE'
by Edward Wilkins Waite (fl. 1878-1927)

This is the fascinating and mysterious River Mole. Possibly this name was bestowed upon it centuries ago on account of its burrowing, but it could be named after the Saxon warrior Mull, who captured the lands around Molesey on the Thames over 1,000 years ago. Or could it be from Moule where fresh water mussels laid in abundance? We probably will never know. An old map published in the early 17th C. , like something from an old pirate story, states 'the river runneth under' and identifies the location of this buried mystery. Without revealing the exact entrance and exit, we can trace the actual river-course and where it seems to have disappeared, burrowing its way for several miles beneath Box Hill. The ordinance survey map of 1816 shows the river later, following a course which is the same today, flowing west of the Hills through the Valley. So was the Mole at this point really an underground river 300 hundred years ago?

Just north of Dorking, right in the middle of Surrey, lies an ancient ridge of hills known as the North Downs. Box Hill itself rises dramatically, away to the left and out of sight of this composition. It is the highest point of the ridge which, since prehistoric times, was used as a safe pathway for our ancestors. Since Victorian times, it has been one of the most popular viewpoints in Southern England. There are two equally valid origins of the name Box; the ancient word for hole was 'box', also the hills have been covered with boxwood shrub for centuries. (1st ref 1629).

Box Hill, with its zig-zag roads, is almost alpine in appearance, and immediately below the high cliffs of its western flank flows this visible part of the River Mole, perhaps near to Betchworth Castle. Somewhere in the woods below stands this old bridge, built in the middle ages. The artist chose this spot for its quietness and repose - indeed, hardly anything is moving. It is mid-afternoon on a late autumn day. Everything is motionless except the darting head of the moorhen on passage across the river; and the cows contemplating a drink, steadying their feet before stooping on the squelchy bank. You can almost sense that familiar, damp woodland smell and hear the constant, echoing calls from this clucking moorhen. The straw-hatted man on the bridge, not in any hurry, just gazes down into the clear waters to see if he can spot that big fish.

Indeed, the river sets this tranquil mood. The recently fallen autumn leaves float lightly on the mirror-like surface. The bridge is reflected symmetrically on the water as it has been on many days since it was built hundreds of years before. It is so quiet and normal that only the few who know might ask, "what does it hide?"

The River Mole is not known for its lively flow, contrary to the saying that "still water run deep". It is shallow here - in fact it is so sluggish that dry weather helps to reveal the secret: it has a habit of drying up in sections. This characteristic annoyed Alexander Pope who wrote "Sullen Mole, that hides his diving flood", may refer to its reputation of disappearing mysteriously into swallow holes and flowing under. We have reports that in the 1930's, the road builders filled an underground entrance with concrete. The river from the 17th C. map, appears originally to have risen near the haunting Leth, [now spelled Leith] Hill. Was this derived from Lethe, the "River of Oblivion"? And then the river travelled an incredible distance in a wide anti-clockwise circular direction, meandering through Stonestreet Causeway, Ifield Court, Betchworth, before its possible great deception at Box Hill. Was there a connection between the name of the original source in Leith hill, and the River of Oblivion of Hades, in Greek mythology? Nowadays, its headwaters are near Gatwick from where it flows in tunnels beneath the present-day runways of Gatwick Airport.

Flowing now strongly, it eventually reaches the Thames at Molesey opposite Hampton Court Palace. Here occasionally, the Mole bursts its banks and floods everywhere except the small area of high ground of the original village, much of which still stands. Its once-secret journey is now over. If only the waters could tell us the truth about the Saxon warrior Mull, and of the ancient caves beneath the Hill.

Although this view was painted over a hundred years ago, the scenery for many miles around Box Hill has barely changed, even though the outskirts of Dorking and Leatherhead have mushroomed to within its outer borders. It is encouraging to be able to find such beautiful spots like this along the vast North Downs today. One just has to walk a little further into the wood............. !

Edward Wilkins Waite was a prolific landscape painter who lived just outside Blackheath, and later at Reigate and Dorking. He was a member of the New Watercolour Society and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1878.