Rodborough Fields Ridge and Furrow
When you walk down the footpath towards Kwik Fit,
You can see a clear pattern of ridge and furrow
(‘Like corrugated fields or waves in a land-sea’),
Particularly on frosty midwinter days:
A glimpse of a world before enclosure
Parcelled up and privatised the landscape
With fences and gates and hedgerows.
But there’s nothing in the landscape to tell you
Just what this pattern of ridges and humps
In grassland, sward and pasture implies,
Or connotes: no plaque or information board
To let us know that where we tread
There was a whole different way of carrying on
From what we regard as normality today:
The tyranny of the clock and the pursuit of profit;
Instead, there was a community
Based upon sharing and mutuality.
It wasn’t just the sharing out of the strips
Of arable land in the open fields,
Or the gleaning.
The tending to and milking of a cow.
The looking out for rabbits.
The gathering of fruits, berries and nuts.
The being satisfied with that you have.
The exchanging of surplus so as to just get by.
The lending or borrowing of tools.
It wasn’t just the fuel – wood, turf, furze, bracken,
Or the crops, gleaning or grazing that gave sustenance,
It was also the community of reciprocity;
The sharing, the mutuality
That fashioned a community,
And the arranged or happenstance meeting
In field, lane, pathway, holloway, baulk or common,
And the ensuing conversation
And sharing of the time of day
(‘Good morrow, Gossip Joan,
Where have you been a-walking? …’);
And ‘wasting time’ didn’t mean laziness,
It might have been incomprehensible to the elite,
But the lower orders could have an eye for the picturesque too,
You didn’t have to be educated to have an eye for the sublime:
John Clare textualized what many saw and felt:
‘How fond the rustics ear at leisure dwells
On the soft soundings of his village bells
As on a Sunday morning at his ease
He takes his rambles just as fancys please …’
And, in a way, we carry on this tradition
On Rodborough Glebe allotments:
‘Social events, plant and seed swaps, surplus produce for food banks,
local history events, a wildflower and wildlife area’
But now we have a chance to expand this vision and practice
With the community ownership of Rodborough Fields
So, when you have a spare moment,
Follow the footpath down to Kwik Fit
Through Rodborough Fields
And glance to your right:
Let your imagination run free
As you pass the ridge and furrow
Frozen in time and space in the pasture;
Walk with the ghosts at their toil
And at their joyful recreation,
Then, if you can, contribute to the future,
Both for yourself and the community;
Keep the continuity going
That runs from medievalism to modernity:
The community ownership of Rodborough Fields.