Lancshire是英格兰北部的一个郡，以重工业，特别是飞机制造业为其特点。由于工作关系常由南部去那里开会。此次去是虽是五月中，但英格兰岛仍没有多少夏天的气息。由于会议在早上举行，必须提前一天到达。通常我们都是头天住在Blackpool附近，此次我提议不提前预定旅馆，而是开会前一天晚上找离开会的公司比较近处落脚。
5月13日下午，驱车向北离开M62高速公路再转向东北方，不久即看到熟悉的BAE(英国航天公司)
所在地，可以看见其展示的著名的二次世界大战时的英国Lancaster轰炸机及Hurricane,
Spitfire战斗机，延其厂区围墙窄窄的公路向北足有两三英里才离开其领地。再向北不久即进入了起伏的丘陵地带，即当地所称的山区。每次路过此地总是匆忙而过，从未这么仔细领略其典型的英格兰北部乡村风光。延狭窄的上路，路过相距甚远的一个个仅几户至十几户的村庄。道路两旁是绿色的田野，路两边由石头砌成的半人高短墙护卫，多数路段进可行一车。好在车辆稀少，前后极难见到一俩车。沿路到处可见到满山吃草的牛群及羊群。此处的房屋多为石头建筑，显然非常古老。路过一处早已遗弃的跨过小溪的残缺石头桥更是显出其中世纪的痕迹。我对英国北部的田野景色，印象是其绿色及天然的整洁就象油画一样。
继续慢行十几英里，终于见到个较大的村子，其入口出有座石头造旅馆。对照地图，测定距离。我们决定进去试试运气。
旅馆前厅是酒吧，象许多英国典型乡村的Pub一样，房间内有些黑暗，房梁粗大扭曲的黑色现实着建筑的年代。酒吧柜台古老而雅致，墙上的老式带花纹瓷灯罩的壁灯及镶嵌典雅的古老油画，一切都是中世纪的气味。甚至真正可以闻到那种只有上了年代才有的木制家具及地毯的味道。除了酒吧的几张小桌旁有两对上年纪的夫妇在喝酒及细细低语外，没有任何顾客。我们的到了丝毫没有惊动喝酒的顾客，他们甚至连头也没有抬一下。店主是个中年男子，女主人在一边的住店柜台。办好手续后，发现客房很大，房间里全是古老的家具，墙上的壁灯印照着一幅幅的乡村油画。据女主人讲英国许多画家都来此做画，我看着外面荒芜的田野，半开玩笑的问道，据晚餐还有一个小时，附近是否有什么有名的值得旅游之处。女主人马上说，当然有，Stonyhurst
College值得一看，出门向西沿路一直走，你不会迷路的，有关信息可以看旅馆介绍及墙上的报纸。我这才注意到墙上镶在镜框中发黄的报纸。看后才知道，原来Stonyhurst
College即是大名鼎鼎的柯南道尔爵士当年所上的中学，他笔下的福尔摩斯的灵感全都来自那所学校及当地的环境。(见摘录的报纸及旅馆简介)
。
我背上录像机及照相机跺步向西延两边石头房屋之间的小路几分钟后便到了村口，往前看去，处了片树林，什么也没有。树林入口有一破旧的石碑，走近一看才知道，写的是Stonyhurst
College，并知道那是一所天主教会学校。天色将晚，微微细雨，路上空无一人。我仍看不到如何学校建筑的踪影，但决定继续向前。树林中有些显然没有维护很好的坟墓及墓碑，这很出乎我的意外。通常英国的墓地都修饰很好，象花园一样。我很感叹那些在这荒芜之处的灵魂，每当我看到那些墓地，总是不知觉的想到，我此生之后无论如何也无法与那些陌生的灵魂为旅。
穿过树林，向右转去，眼前或然开朗，无边的绿色草地，一条笔直的大道通往前方。道路的尽头是座城堡，城堡前有小河，池塘，小桥。距离估计也有一英里。这就是英国有名的贵族学校，竟然在这偏僻的地方。
偶而路上驶过几辆汽车，型号都是越野跑车，Rolls-Royce
或Mercedes-Benz。可见那些接送学生的家长身份，车里的学生都是身着漂亮的黑色礼服式校服。两个漂亮的乡村女士骑着油亮的高头大马，在绿地上缓缓驰行。她们头带黑绒骑马帽，身穿紧身马服，黑色的马靴，手执马鞭。大概世界上只有在英格兰农村才可见到如此景色。我有时很奇怪，乡间骑马的永远是女士，极少见过男子骑马。我问过当地人，回答是：应当是那样。
看着远方的山坡，丘陵，草地，农舍，沼泽。柯南道尔爵当年笔下的‘巴斯维尔猎犬The
Hound of the Baskervilles’
所描述的景色的确就在眼前。根据报纸发表的记载，福尔摩斯，华生医生的名字都来自这所学校柯南道尔爵的同学。
Where did Conan Doyle first meet
Sherlock and Moriarty? Elementary school my dear Watson
Their names are
inseparably linked in literary history.
Sherlock
Holmes and Professor Moriarty – the world’s greatest detective and the evil
genius whose name has become a byword for a criminal mastermind.
But until now
the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s two greatest creations has
remained a mystery.
However a
simple glance at the attendance register fro Stonyhurst College in 1868 has
revealed that the then plain Arthur Doyle spent three years at school with a
Patrick Sherlock and two Moriarty brothers, John and Michael.
The logic, as
Holmes would say, is elementary.
Doyle went to
the strict Catholic boarding school in 1868 aged nine and Sherlock arrived two
weeks later – and the two new boys sought solace in each other’s company.
The Moriartys
were a few years older and, according to school reports from the time, the
senior brother was a brilliant mathematician with a taste for mischief,
spookily similar to Doyle’s fictional creation.
The discovery
of the school register was made by school’s former archivist, Father Turner,
several years ago but only came to light when his replacement, David Knight,
was going through some old papers recently.
Mr. Knight
said: ‘Plain Arthur Doyle, as he was known then, and Patrick arrived at the
school within two weeks of each other, while the Moriarty brothers were
already there.
“They were
extremely bright and won lots of school prizes. The older Moriarty, though,
had a very odd personality and was not a particularly nice person. He became a
judge in Ireland and books describe him as ‘reptilian’ and ‘snake-like’,
exactly the same adjectives that Conan Doyle later used for his fictional
Moriarty.’
Arthur Doyle
(Conan was his middle name which he used as a literary affectation) spent six
unhappy years at Stonyhurst College, near Clitheroe in 1874 aged 15 and a
half.
‘He went
through the whole school and ended up in a class with 17 and 18-year-olds, as
pupils advanced on the basis of their achievement,’ said Mr. Knight, 64, who
arrived at Stonyhurst himself in 1967.
‘In his school
report Doyle was always described as childish but what would you expect when
he was three years younger than the rest of his class?’
The influence
of Stonyhurst – other famous names lined to the school include JRR Tolkien and
actor Charles Laughton – on Conan Doyle’s stories was considerable.
Baskerville
Hall, setting for the infamous tale about a ghostly hound, is identical to the
west wing of the College, while the yew walk which Sir Henry Baskerville was
chased down to his death is in the grounds of the school.
Heather Owen
of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London said: ‘there are lots of stories
about where Conan Doyle got his names from. Some say it is cricketers others
that it is places in Yorkshire but I have never heard of this. There could
well be something in it.’ Despite his reputation as Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis.
Professor Moriarty appeared in only two of the 60 detective stories, The
Valley of Fear and The Final Problem.
But he was the
most deadly and feared of opponents and when Conan Doyle tired of writing the
Sherlock Holmes stories it was Moriarty –described as ‘the Napoleon of crime’
– who was the instrument of his death.
After visiting
the Reichenbach Falls in the Swiss Alps in 1893, Conan Doyle thought it was a
fitting location to kill Holmes off. He plunged to his death with Moriarty
during a fight.
When The Final
Problem was published in the December 1893 edition of Strand magazine, it
upset readers so much that 20,000 cancelled their subscriptions.
The
Shireburn Arms
is privately owned and run by the Alcock family. Situated in the heart of the
Ribble Valley with breathtaking views in a lovely village setting there is a
special charm to this 17th century building.
The
Shireburn Arms
is a little corner of Old England for you to savour. When it began life in
1679 it was a farm with a series of outbuildings.
Stonyhurst College, just one
mile away is one of the finest buildings in Lancashire and all England,
acclaimed even by Alec Clifton-Taylor. A Jesuit school of enviable reputation
and responsible for the school of many influential authors, Arthur Conan Doyle
(Sherlock Holmes), J.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Ring), the seven Victoria Cross’s
and the setting of many period dramas and films. In fact, the Shireburn Coat
of Arms displayed in this Brochure appears only in stained glass in the Hotel.
The
historic hotel itself comprises of three buildings which have been sensitively
combined to provide a place of charm and character.
The
“Sherburn” was sold by the Weld family in 1831 and then run as a Hotel by
Richard Parker. His daughter, a Dominican nun, inherited the “Sherburn” and it
became a convent from 1856. It was then sold to Stonyhurst College in 1866,
who then owned it unitl 1975, and was run by various landlords as a hotel.
On an
interesting note, the wife of an earlier publican, Ralph Holden, was said to
have murdered one of his relatives in 1834. However, she claimed that she “had
only put the arsenic in the tea pot, he had chosen to drink the tea”. She was
hung at Lancaster Castle.
The Story
of Spedegue’s Dropper by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
