Author: nick_xylas

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Review: Orlam and I Inside The Old Year Dying by PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey (2022) Orlam. London: Picador.
Harvey, PJ. (2023) I Inside The Old Year Dying. Partisan Records

.Orlam is a novel in verse by PJ Harvey that represents the first full-length book written in the Dorset dialect in over a century, though parallel translations into “book-English” can be found on facing pages, and there are also footnotes and a glossary, so that the reader does not need to be well-versed in Wessex English to be able to understand it. Her vocabulary draws upon the work of William Barnes, but while Barnes favoured plain meanings and everyday subjects, Harvey’s verse is dense, allusive and rich in symbolism, closer to the work of William Blake.

Like Barnes’s poetry, Orlam reflects the timeless nature of the Dorset countryside, though references to Gateway carrier bags and Jim’ll Fix It locate it temporally in the 1970s or early 1980s. There is nothing twee or romanticised about the portrayal of the countryside here. Death and decay are everywhere, and the album ends with the sound of buzzing air-vlees (flies).

‌The book tells the story of 9-year-old Ira-Abel Rawles, from the imaginary village of UNDERWHELEM (always written in ALL CAPS); and her ghostly (imaginary?) Christ figure Wyman-Elvis, a soldier killed in the Ransham rebellion, a fictional revolt against the English crown seemingly modelled on the Western and Pitchfork rebellions. Seeing all is the titular Orlam, the eye of a dead lamb (the Lamb of God?) that had been saved from the crows.

Harvey subsequently chose to set some of the poems to music in the album I Inside The Old Year Dying. She instinctively understands the difference between a poem and a song lyric, so the poems are often substantially rearranged. The works can be experienced independently of each other, but are best taken as a piece. The music is eerie and evocative, and rather delightfully, Harvey sings the songs in an understated Dorset accent, though without going full Wurzel. The sounds of nature, such as birdsong, fade in and out, evoking the rural setting.

Orlam and I Inside The Old Year Dying are highly recommended to readers of this blog. They carry on the legacy of Barnes and Hardy while feeling contemporary. They show that a Wessex identity need not just be a relic of the past, but can be dynamic and capable of reinventing itself. Which is what Wessex Society has been saying all along.

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Wessex Attractions: Corfe Castle

Last week, we looked at Shaftesbury Abbey, once home to the relics of Edward, King and Martyr. This week we turn our attention to Corfe Castle, the original site of his murder, Destroyed by the Roundheads during the English Civil War in a misguided attempt at denormanisation, this year (2023) saw its ruins become the subject of the National Trust’s biggest ever conservation project, restoring loose and damaged stonework, and removing excess vegetation without destroying valuable wildlife habitats.

Species found in the castle and surrounding area include the Adonis Butterfly and the Grey Bush Cricket. Perhaps fittingly, its gothic ruins are also home to birds of prey and carrion eaters; ravens, red kites and peregrine falcons.As with the Tower of London, legend has it that if the ravens ever leave Corfe Castle, England will fall.

Corfe Castle also gives its name to a nearby village and civil parish. Its railway station was a rather late casualty of the Beeching rail cuts, closing in 1972, but was reopened as part of the heritage Swanage Railway in the mid-1980s.

As well as the ruins themselves, Corfe Castle also has a tea room and bookshop, and is licenced for civil weddings. Opening hours are 10am to 6pm daily, with last entrance to the castle at 5.30pm.

The castle has a car park, and the satnav postcode is BH20 5DR. The nearest main line railway station is Wareham, and bus number 40 (Swanage to Poole) stops at the nearby Village Centre.

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Wessex Attractions: Shaftesbury Abbey

Shaftesbury Abbey was founded by Alfred the Great in 888, and continued until it was dissolved in 1539 by order of Thomas Cromwell. At the time, it was the wealthiest convent in Wessex, and the second wealthiest in England, exceeded only by Syon Abbey in Richmond, Surrey.

For a long time, the Abbey was the home of a shrine to Edward, King and Martyr. The translation of the relics in February 981 from Wareham, their previous home, was overseen by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia. The latter was a rather ironic choice, as he was a supporter of Edward’s stepmother Ælfthryth, whose servants were behind the murder, and who was widely believed to be the instigator. His involvement appears to be a way of distancing himself from the killing. The procession was reenacted in 1981 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary.

In Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy wrote of the ruins of Shaston Abbey (his name for Shaftesbury) that “Vague imaginings of its castle, its three mints, its magnificent apsidal Abbey, the chief glory of south Wessex, its twelve churches, its shrines, chantries, hospitals, its gabled freestone mansions—all now ruthlessly swept away—throw the visitor, even against his will, into a pensive melancholy which the stimulating atmosphere and limitless landscape around him can scarcely dispel.”

Today, the abbey survives as a museum and herb garden. It often hosts open air events such as movie screenings during the summertime. Interestingly, their website features the Wessex coat of arms in its masthead.

The museum is open from March to October. The nearest rail station is Gillingham (Dorset), and bus numbers 2, 6, 7, 27, 29 and 86 serve the nearby Town Hall bus stop. The satnav postcode is SP7 8JR.

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The Character of Wessex: The Forest of Dean and Lower Wye

The Forest of Dean and Lower Wye character area is a triangular area bounded, for the most part, by the rivers Severn and Wye, and the A40 around Ross-on-Wye. It has been a mining area since antiquity, due to its large deposits of iron and coal. 40% of the area is woodland; mostly oak, ash and chestnut, but in recent decades, the Forestry Commission has inflicted its unpleasant habit of planting conifers in areas where they don’t belong.

The local sandstone has a distinctive pinkish hue, which in the past made it much in demand as a building material, though brick and concrete have supplanted it over the years. Pantiles and Welsh slate are widely used for roofing.

The area is noted for its orchards, with local varieties including the Blaisdon Red plum, excellent for making jam; Evan;s Kernel, a general purpose apple found in Ruardean, which is listed as critical on the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust website; . and the sweet-tasting Merrylegs pear.

Tourism is an important industry for the area. The Picturesque movement in art began there, and tourists still flock to popular beauty spots such as Tintern Abbey and Symond’s Yat, both (just) outside the bounds of Wessex.

The area is home to one of the UK’s largest populations of horseshoe bats. However, these ate threatened by wind farms upsetting their flight paths and messing with their sonar. It would be ironic if the transition from the traditional coal found in the region to cleaner forms of energy ended up endangering the local wildlife.

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Wessex Attractions: Newton Abbott Racecourse

Newton Abbot racecourse, situated on the edge of Dartmoor, was founded in 1866 as a community venture, funded by local horse racing enthusiasts. However, it lacked a proper grandstand for over a century, until one was opened in 1969, in a ceremony attended by the Queen Mother. In 1974, a greyhound racing track was added after the nearby Halfway Greyhound Track closed down.

The racecourse features two on-site restaurants, picnic benches, a children’s play area, and dedicated facilities for owners and trainers. The dress code is smart casual.

Ladies’ Day takes place in June every year. There are prizes for the best dressed and best hat.

The satnav postcode is TQ12 3AF. The racecourse is close to Newton Abbot railway station, and is served by multiple bus routes.