Bath & North East Somerset Council

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A colourful map of Somerset showing hills, towns and other features A colourful map of Somerset showing hills, towns and other features Show image info

Map of Somerset by Speed, 1676, ref: 0596

Carved Scape

 

Written in 2019 by a member of a creative writing class, through a collaboration between Bath Record Office and the St. John’s Foundation.

Breathe gently,
And wait, for the quickening of hindered light
upon the Mendip Hills
When tarred shadows
deepen the contours of the man-made mounds
and branches stretch in supplication.
Now is the time,
in the thickened stopped air
to hear the bending of grass
and the muffled tread of calicoed feet.
This is when the force of the past seeps
into pulse time
when shadowy slaves, soul-sick soldiers, mystics, drovers, thieves and beggars
crowd the landscape - 
fogging the air with their important stories
until your head splinters with the burden of their tales.

Sue Sparkes, February – March 2019