Delectable Mountains
Encyclopedia
The Delectable Mountains are one of the rest havens for the pilgrims travelling to the Celestial City in John Bunyan
John Bunyan
John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...

's The Pilgrim's Progress. Christian is shown them from the House Beautiful, and he sees "a most pleasant Mountainous Country, beautified with Woods, Vineyards, Fruits of all sorts; Flowers also, with Springs and Fountains, very delectable to behold." They are also called "Immanuel's Land," a biblical allusion to Isaiah 8:8. When Christian and Hopeful arrive there they find that it is on these mountains that Immanuel's sheep are pastured by shepherds, who are named Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere. In the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress the specific mountains, Error, Caution, and Clear are shown to the pilgrims. It is from Mt. Clear that the pilgrims are given a "Perspective Glass" to see the gates of the Celestial City. In the second part it is discovered that the shepherds have a palace besides their tents, and they show the pilgrims some of the other mountains, Marvel, Innocent, and Charity.

The Delectable Mountains are said to have been inspired by the chalk hills of North Eastern Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, the start of the Chilterns, as seen from the great clay plain of Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

 below. John Brown, the author of Bunyan, his Life, Times and Work, proposed Leith Hill
Leith Hill
Leith Hill to the south west of Dorking, Surrey, England, reaches above sea level, the highest point on the Greensand Ridge, and is the second highest point in south-east England, after Walbury Hill near Hungerford, West Berkshire, high....

in Surrey as the site Bunyan used as a model for his Delectable Mountains. James Wharey and Roger Sharrock opine that this is implausible.
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