Bit of work involved this week. Near as I can figure it, the most likely answers seem to me to be:
Q1. Alice Liddell
Q2. The Rufus Stone
N.B. for question one,the dean's daughter was also known as Alice Liddell Hargreaves after she was married.
The initial clues place us in the vicinity of the New Forest national park, down near Southampton. A poet who was appointed laureate c 1813, was Robert Southey and his second wife, who was called Car[o]line Anne Bowles, was according to some sources, born in the vicinity of the town of Lyming[t]on, which is a railway terminus town. From looking at the OS map of the area and confirming by checking the satellite pictures, there is a large 200 foot high concrete tower just south of the village of [S]way, you can see it if you stand on Flexford lane and look south west or on Barrows lane and look east. The tower was built c 1879 by Andrew Turton Thomas Pete[r]son and is known variously as '[S]way Tower', 'Pete[r]son's Folly' and 'Pete[r]son's Tower'.
A village a shade north of the tower is [S]way and here, for a short time, according to some references, lived the writer of a hymn called "Abide With Me", one Henry Francis Lyt[e] (born c 1793). 'Rock Burst Hen' appears to be an anagram of Brockenh[u]rst, which lies two miles or so north east of [S]way. The quote 'What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?' is according to some sources, the opening line in a book called 'Alice In Wonderland', which was based on the daughter (Alice Liddell) of the dean of Christ Church, Henry Liddell. Some sources claim that Alice Liddell was buried in the graveyard of the church of St Michael and All the Angels, in Lyndh[u]rst.
Driving seven miles or so north east from Lyndh[u]rst, brings us to the village of Eli[n]g, where there is a flour mill which is powered by the tide. It is believed that a mill has been operational there, for around nine hundred years. Travelling six miles west from Eli[n]g, brings us to the village of Min[s]tead and it is here that the quote "You know my method. It is founded on the observance of trifles" (by Sherlock Holmes), brings us to the resting place of a nineteenth century author called Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is buried, at All Saints church there.
Now assembling the most likely answers to the clues
1. Letter seven from the terminal town Lyming[t]on = T
2. Letter four from the christian name of the poets second wife Car[o]line Anne Bowles = O
3. Letter five from the folly builder's name Pete[r]son = R
4. Letter one from the name of the village [S]way = S
5. Letter four from the hymn writer's name surname Henry Francis Lyt[e] = E
6. Letter nine from Brockenh[u]rst = U
7. Letter six from the name of the town where the dean's daughter is buried Lyndh[u]rst = U
8. Letter four from the name of the waterside village Eli[n]g = N
9. Letter four from the name of the village where the nineteenth century author is buried Min[s]tead = S
Adding the free letter 'F' to this list gives us
T, O, R, S, E, U, U, N, S, F
which can be rearranged to give the name of a monument which lies around two miles north west of Minstead, ie The Rufus Stone. This is a marker of the spot where a big sociopathic thug called William Rufus, king of England, was shot by an arrow while on a hunting expedition. It is rumoured that this guy was so horrible, that one of his own team (Sir Walter Tyrell) whacked him.....though at the time, it was spun as an unfortunate ricochet of an arrow off an oak tree 'accident' story. Not sure what the stone is made of but it is reported in some references, to have a cast iron cover.
Link to the competition:
Where Was I?
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