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| Is this the Westbury White Horse I wonder |
Listening to Macfarlane: I have just woken up with Edward Thomas travelling across France in the freezing cold, to, as we know, his certain death. All day I have been tired and gave into to it this afternoon and slept. The sun shines outside, but my inner journey is with Robert Macfarlane and the 'Old Ways. Here he is plodding along the Ridgeway, the mysterious Silbury Hill on the horizon. The great Neolithic sacred land before him, his words not mine. Avenues and circles, great stones dragged for miles and erected in dumb worship, though we spy the golden orb of the sun at their centre and also the cool moon on high. Macfarlane has read many of the books I have read.
He mentions Massingham, Prophecy of Famine, written with Hyams, a book I have also read. Famine did not come to fruition in this country at that time you will be pleased to know, we were always one step ahead of the game. The book Macfarlane refers to is 'Downland Man' a lyrical book, written before the world wars I believe, about a beautiful England before it fell under the heavy plough of modern farming. I can see the photos even now, the long lines of the downs, the horses ploughing, the Kent orchards with full apple trees.
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| There are so many stories about this area, especially the Uffington Horse. Eric Ravilious |
A completely different England to the one we are living in now. We have the edge on fear like Thomas travelling in the company of other soldiers, to a death yet to be experienced. Macfarlane mentions Ravilious and his painting. One that springs easily to mind, is the train carriage painting with the view of the White Horse just outside Swindon or is it perhaps the Westbury Horse that I could see, when the weather was good. from the top of the Bath Downs. Ravilious also painted the down lands as well.
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| Eric Ravilious |
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| Paul Nash - Silbury Hill. There is a feeling of homesickness for Wiltshire, it still calls but I have severed my connection with cars, and going back is not always a good idea. In fact given the presence of our country's mobility and excessive use of cars, perhaps I do not want to anyway! |
Saw the top little picture on my sidebar for your post and thought ' I know what that is'.I keep being tempted by a collection of his paintings on some birthday cards from the Museums website I think but then I wouldn't want to send them off to anyone else!
ReplyDeleteI think it is the open countryside that draws you in Sue. You also have wide open spaces in Suffolk and Norfolk, though flat of course. You can always buy two sets of cards.
DeleteThat is the Westbury horse, but I cannot think of a train line which runs past it so closely. Maybe Beeching axed it.
ReplyDeleteYou could always nail that horse in the distance because of the smoke from the cement factory below Tom. Never been on a train in that direction, when the Bath to London train went on its scenic route on Sunday it didn't go that way.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe artistic licence Tom and Thelma. I love thos old postcards.
ReplyDeleteYes plenty of artistic licence Pat I am sure but also a record of times past. Like the little house under Silbury Hill, there is no trace of it now. I have heard that it was a garage and that they chucked the old tyres into the mound.
DeleteI didn't drive when I lived in Wiltshire (near Salisbury) so wasn't able to explore properly, though when I was a child we had days out there, and believe it or not, I was only thinking this morning about my dad getting frustrated waiting to cross the A303 when we'd been to Longleat. We even looked at a couple of houses around Mere, but they weren't right. Of course, Keith and the children and I had memorable visits to Avebury. Wish we could have a day out there this summer, but it's not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteLove the Eric Ravilious pictures.
Yes Jennie and your Dad would still be frustrated with the A303 as the eternal rumble of tunnelling near Stonehenge goes on. Avebury, maybe because it is free, though the carpark is expensive, seems to attract lots of people visiting. Now a centre for pagan leanings.
DeleteI rather like the illustrations of Ravilous but find my like of Nash to be very variable. The Uffingham white horse used to be my marker on the train journey home from London; I like 'land art' and its scale very much.
ReplyDeleteRavilious caught the calmness of the countryside, whilst Nash's paintings are more 'brutal' especially in his prehistoric stones. A painting to me is the frame of the mind in which it is conducted. I have a link to female artists in the 19th century and beyond. Flowers and draughtsmanship, or perhaps realism is their work. I love both though ;)
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