Thomas Clarkson recorded in his journal his thoughts whilst travelling to London from Cambridgeshire on the Essay he had written on slavery:
... I tried frequently to persuade myself that the statements in my essay could not be true. But the more I reflected on the authorities on which they had been founded, the more constrained I was to give them credit. I sat down disconsolate on the turf by the roadside, and here it forcibly occurred to me, if the statements I had made were facts, it was high time that something should be done to put an end to such cruelties."

On the road between Wadesmill and High Cross, Ware, is the actual spot this resolution took place. From then on Thomas Clarkson was to dedicate his time and efforts towards the abolition first of the slave trade and then slavery itself.