contra mundum
the Bride … the Avon There is a River Bride in Dorset which rises in a lake near which Bridehead House is situated. I do not know whether EW drew on these names for his Castle and river. There are three rivers Avon which it seems at this stage EW could be referring to. It is almost as if he is playing a game with his readers - now guess which one it is. One is the Warwickshire Avon which flows west through Shakespeare’s Stratford to the Severn; another flows into the Bristol Channel; and the third flows south into the English Channel near Bournemouth.
(Cliffe)
Brideshead Castle, Wiltshire Now we learn in which county Brideshead is situated. It is still not quite clear which River Avon it is near : it is not the Warwickshire Avon but both remaining candidates pass through Wiltshire.
(Cliffe)
Melstead Carbury There is no such place. EW does not say where Charles changed to a local line, but it is most probably Swindon - he would have had time for dinner between Reading and Swindon. There is a local line from Swindon which goes through Chippenham and Melksham to Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon. This is the Avon that enters the Bristol Channel through the Avon Gorge : as a result it is the likeliest candidate for Brideshead’s Avon. One cannot determine which town, if any, served as a model for Melstead Carbury, though Iain Gale (in Waugh’s World) places Brideshead Castle near Chippenham.
(Cliffe)