Tower and Town, August 2020 (view the full edition)Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) And Marlborough (Part 2)Richard Jefferies moved away from Swindon in his twenties, to be nearer to London, and later he moved to various parts of Sussex for health reasons; from 1882 to 1884, living in Hove - in a house he named "Savernake Villa". He had clearly not forgotten Wiltshire, and indeed, many of his later essays written in Sussex were about the Wiltshire countryside and the Marlborough Downs. In Round About a Great Estate he describes coming to Marlborough to try to find an old "History of Overboro'" "After some consideration, however, he thought there might be a copy at the Crown, once an old posting-inn, at Overboro' : that was about the only place where I should be likely to find it. So one warm summer day I walked into Overboro', following a path over the Downs, whose short sward affords the best walking in the world." There follows a wonderful description of the old Inn, inside and out. Could this have been the Castle and Ball - or The Ailesbury Arms? The final reference worth mentioning is in a letter Jefferies wrote to the Swindon Advertiser in 1871. In this he states "Passing leisurely down the High Street, Marlborough, one lovely day last summer, I paused in front of a window when I caught sight of a little green book with the title; The Birds of Marlborough. Jefferies then continues to reflect on his own experiences; but this little book was written by an 18 year old still at Marlborough College named Everard Im Thurn, who went on to have a very distinguished diplomatic career. As to the bookshop, there were two in Marlborough at the time, and it would be very fitting to think that the one young Jefferies saw was the earlier incarnation of the White Horse Bookshop, which now very generously supports an annual award, together with the Richard Jefferies Society, for the best book of nature writing in a given year. Rebirding by Benedict MacDonald (Pelagic Publishing) won this year's prize. It impressed the judges by its ambition and scope. Macdonald said: "My wise grandfather gave me a copy of Jefferies' Wild Life in a Southern County when I was eight years old. Today I am humbled beyond measure to have won this literary prize." And if you haven't read it yet, I would also strongly endorse last year's winner, "Wilding" by Isabella Tree. Apart from that I would recommend any books by Richard Mabey, who I consider to be by far the best of the modern nature writers. John Price |