8. The good air of the Chilterns invites to health by day and to sleep by night - Lee Nelson

The good air of the Chilterns invites to health by day and to sleep by night¹ 

Steep valleys, cut by meltwaters not the glacier itself.
Tree-topped hills, warrens, narrow rights of way
Romans, Saxons, beacons and Watling Street.  

Ancient Countryside, by Rackham’s reckon²,
developed slowly, avoiding large-scale changes
due to the difficult nature of the land.  

Domesday records - scarp-foot open fields and dip-slope closes.
Homes assarted from the greenwood,
pollarded tree-pasture, measured in pannage³.  

Earth-beneath – foraminifera, coccoliths - powdered armour of ancient amoebae, raw materials of limestone  

Sky-above – like anywhere, nitrogen, exhaust fumes, all that stuff  

Caught-between – Beech woods, cob-nuts, sloes, blackberries, humans, other beasts  

In summary then: Hard to settle, a problem to farm, difficult to cross . . .  

If you haven’t previously felt comfortable visiting - We are hard to settle  

If you haven’t previously felt comfortable visiting - We are difficult to cross  

Waves of history break on our hoes,
energy runs up the slopes
pools and waits,
and the limestone dissolves . . .  

Our chalks hide flint
Lugus’s teeth
the biters of shapers
the checks on the church⁴
the tools of the ancients  

If you haven’t previously felt comfortable visiting - Look again, beneath your feet

Our chalkbed is limestone
Limestone dissolves
then carried by water
moves, settles, reforms
makes beds
lays foundations
concretes, abides  

Then once more the waters
Once more waves and tides
Migrants migrate
find refuge, survive  

Limestone dissolves
runs downhill (with a smile)
runs too fast to keep up
despite stumbles
and trips
it pools
it abides
connects
grows
thrives  

Chalk sketches precedents
makes maquettes
Marble follows with art
with columns, with steps  

Foraminifera calcify
Coccoliths decay
get lost on the waters
make their way  

They pool
They abide
Connect
Grow
Thrive  

If you haven’t previously felt comfortable visiting us:
You’re already here.
Have a look.
Come outside.  




¹The title of this poem comes from one of the 'Metro-Land' booklets, a series of travel guides published by the Metropolitan Railway over a period of 17 years (1915–1932).
²Oliver Rackham – his books include Ancient Woodland (1980) and The History of the Countryside (1986).
³Pannage - the act of pasturing swine in a wood or forest (as in medieval England ) – Merriam-Webster
⁴Have a look at the Parish Church of St Mary, right by the Arndale Centre in LU1.  OK, it isn’t really called The Arndale anymore, but if you renamed Stonehenge ‘The Circle – Salisbury Plain’ nobody would actually call it that.