Thomas Telford's magnificent bridge was opened on 30 January 1826. One of the early descriptions of the bridge is by Lord Westmeath in a letter to myself.

Holyhead Aug. 26

My dear Duke

[...] The crowds coming down to see the bridge are quite beyond belief. I would mention that observing it the other day when it blew hard I could perceive it undulating quite distinctly, but it evidently proceeded from the wind beneath, & not from the workers above.

An intelligent man at the toll house informed me that the S.W. wind is that to which it is worst exposed, & it has received a cast from that point by last winters gales before it was finished, which it will never lose. It seems to me however from its mighty strength to be secure from the elements greatest power, & in beauty it surpasses all powers of description.

Everly My dear Duke yours
sincerely & gratefully

Westmeath 

Buckingham & Chandos

Modern day tourists may think that the guidebook is a twentieth century invention, vaguely recollecting the names of Shell and Michelin, and reaching for their Rough Guide. They may also think that visiting the stately homes of England is a novel event, invented by the National Trust. If you even half think this, begin here.

The house and gardens at Stowe, my family seat, were tourist attractions from around 1724, when my ancestor Lord Cobham set out the gardens. People came to visit the gardens and house, sometimes invited, often not. Topographical notes and poems were written. And in 1744 the first full guidebook to the house and grounds was published by Benton Seeley, a writing master in Buckingham. The guidebooks continued for a further 70 years and Seeley went on to become a printer and publisher, founding a business that wound up only in 1978.

The title page here is from the 1797 edition printed for my father. It shows Stowe as it was when my wife, Anna Eliza Brydges, who I married in 1796, first came to the Buckinghamshire home of us Grenvilles.

In 1817, resting at my wife’s family home at Avington, I write to Stowe librarian, Dr Charles O’Conor, to ensure the latest edition is correct:

Avington
Jan^y 9^th 1817

My dear Doctor

As the names of the painter of the pictures which ought to come after the “small landscape” page 40, are not known, you will not insert them. Insert the “small landscape” after “[Allies?] 1815” same page.

In page 33 insert your proposed alterations viz “beginning from the N. E. angle the spectator fronting the Statue of Paris.” […]

[…] Tell Seeley to reserve all his proof impressions of the prints of the book of Stowe for my large paper copies. One large paper copy for the Library should be on vellum.

Chandos Buckingham