The John Masefield Memorial Project
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Blog Post #10: Music and Masefield
Masefield Matters, 29th July 2025
John Masefield was a very popular poet in the early 20th century, both in Britain and the United States. Many composers took inspiration from his poems and set them to music, which to many people are now the most familiar forms of Masefield’s work.
Many (though not all) of these settings feature Masefield’s earlier poems about the sea. The reason for this is likely twofold. Firstly, these poems are some of Masefield’s most popular, and are likely to have sparked the imagination of other artists with their romance and drama of the sea. Secondly, the structure of these poems lend themselves particularly well to music. Masefield named his first collection Salt Water Ballads, and many of the poems are based on musical forms popular at sea. Masefield, who retained his keen interest in sailing throughout his life, was well-versed in sea shanties, and these clearly inspired his writing.
Most arrangements of Masefield’s work were composed in the first half of the 20th century, with very few being written after his death, and still fewer in the 21st century. Some, such as John Ireland’s arrangement of ‘Sea Fever’, are still regularly performed today, but are in a style that no longer has popular appeal.
How would you set Masefield’s poetry to music? There are versions of Robert Burns set to Scottish folk, Thomas Hardy Christmas carols, rapping Edgar Allan Poe and even Emily Dickinson sung to alternative country (hear these songs here).
Blog Post #2: The Ledbury Scene, Part 5
Masefield Matters, 22nd July 2025
A second narrative poem, Reynard the Fox, features a series of less defined snapshots of Herefordshire intermingled with Masefield’s later home in Oxfordshire, as well as other rural areas he had visited. The fox’s route takes him through many real places in the local area, including past Preston Church, where Masefield places a christening party in remembrance of his own christening there.
In the Ledbury Scene, Masefield mentions several more works featuring his childhood town. Wonderings draws heavily on the Ledbury scene, featuring the market, with smaller snapshots featuring the countryside in Enslaved and On the Hill. The meadows featured in the Daffodil Fields and the brook that runs through them are also memories of the author’s time in Ledbury, and are a place he notes that he has returned to since moving to Oxfordshire.
Masefield acknowledged the profound impact his childhood, the town and the Church in Ledbury had on him and his writing. His childhood so frequently referenced in his work, brings with it naturally the place where it was spent. He said, when receiving the Key to the City of Hereford, ‘Whenever I think of Paradise, I think of parts of this County’. It is evident that to John Masefield, Ledbury was his first and enduring home.
Further Reading
- The Ledbury Scene: A pamphlet written by Masefield in 1951 about his use of Ledbury as a literary setting
- The Box of Delights
- The Everlasting Mercy
- https://calmgrove.wordpress.com/2020/01/12/boxing1/ A blog post about the settings of the Kay Harker books, and comparing this with Ledbury and Herefordshire.
Blog Post #2: The Ledbury Scene, Part 4
Masefield Matters, 15th July 2025
In his later years, Masefield wrote a short pamphlet entitled the Ledbury Scene: as I have used it in my verse in order to raise funds for the church bells of St Michael’s in Ledbury. Despite not having lived in Ledbury for many decades by this point, this demonstrates the strong connection he still felt.
The first work he discusses in the Ledbury Scene is his early poem the Everlasting Mercy. The Everlasting Mercy is set firmly in the reality of Ledbury at the time of the canal, with local landmarks including the St Michael’s Church, St Katherines Hall, and the Market Hall referenced, as well as the woods between Ledbury and Eastnor. Masefield’s description of this area and the route taken by the protagonist, Saul Kane, is obviously that of someone who knows the area well. Kane’s route is possible to track using maps from the time, though is harder to place in the modern landscape now the canal is no longer present.
Check back soon for the final instalment of this blog post
Blog Post #9: Ledbury Celebration Day
Masefield Matters, 10th July 2025
This week we were at Ledbury Celebration Day with two ‘Masefield Moments’! Celebration Day is a community event on the final day of Ledbury Poetry Festival, with a range of poetry, dance, and music alongside a market and street food.
This year, we had two ‘moments’ during the programming where we presented three of John Masefield’s most popular short poems with two local poets, Finn and Stephen.
Hear Finn read ‘Sea Fever’ here
Hear Stephen read ‘Cargoes’ here
Hear Stephen read ‘Trade Winds’ here
These three poems are all from John Masefield’s earliest collections, which prominently feature his love of and knowledge in the sea and sailing. Another short poem that shows Masefield’s fascination with the sea is ‘Roadways’.
Blog Post #8: HMS Ledbury
Masefield Matters, 3rd July 2025
The Masefield Matters staff went to Cardiff Bay last week to visit HMS Ledbury, named for the town. HMS Ledbury was built in 1981 and is currently one of the oldest working ships in the Navy. She is a Hunt Class Mine Counter Measures Vessel, and has a range of methods to target mines, including sonar, divers and the Seafox Mine Disposal System. The purpose of the ship is to ensure safe passage for other vessels. She has recently returned from three years operating in the Persian Gulf.
We met the ship’s officers, including the Captain and Executive Officer, who led us on a tour of the ship. We got to see the top deck, the mine destroying technology, and a pressure chamber for diving. We saw control rooms and the bridge, which control the mine detection and navigation of the ship, as well as living areas for the crew.
The officers were interested in events in the town and in the Masefield Matters project. They heard about the importance of Masefield to the town and his connection to the sea, as well as the range of events we are running. The Chairman of the Town Council, Liz Harvey, gifted the crew a copy of Masefield’s first collection of poems, ‘Salt Water Ballads,’ which is heavily inspired by his time in the Merchant Navy. We hope to work with HMS Ledbury in the future and build our mutual connection with the town and the sea.
Blog Post #7: Woodcarving Part 2
Masefield Matters, 1st July 2025
Masefield Matters, with LEAF Ledbury, participated in a second forest school session in Childer Wood. This session was run by Ruth Joiner and Gudrun Leitz. Ruth is an experienced forest school teacher, and led us in making a poetry den and writing our very own nature-inspired poem. We read John Masefield’s poem ‘On Eastnor Knoll,’ which was inspired by woodlands near Eastnor Castle. Gudrun, an expert green wood carver, then taught us to split wood with an axe and carve it using shave horses and a traditional lathe. Using these techniques, we made bows and arrows from hazel and ash wood. We also foraged for cherries and made nettle crisps!
Here is the poem the group wrote inspired by what we could see and hear around us:
Ode to Masefield
Majestic trees as tall as towers,
Bright bark shimmering in the sun,
A fox calls out across the coppice,
Leaves rustle with waves of wind.
Wispy clouds in sapphire skies,
Spears of rosebay willow herb,
Catching the sun like lazy guys,
Translucent leaves under scorching sun.
Flies drone, insects bombard and throng,
Saplings burst forth under supple hazel.
Dry leaves crunch, twigs crack underfoot,
Cherries as red and luscious as rubies.
Through spending time in the woodland and learning ancient foraging and woodcarving techniques, we were able to learn a little more about what Herefordshire would have been like in Masefield’s youth and how that impacted his work.
Blog Post #6: Masefield's Early Life
Caroline Magnus, 26th June 2025
John Masefield recalled his early years at The Knapp as a time of living in Paradise. After the grieving children were taken in at The Priory by Uncle William and Aunt Kate in 1886 his life became more difficult and complicated. Aunt Kate, a daughter of, and sister to, succeeding vicars of Aston Ingham, struggled to cope with six young children. She found the boys particularly boisterous, especially John and his younger brother Harry, but favoured the Masefield girls, Ethel and Norah. She discouraged John’s love of reading and insisted on him joining the Merchant Navy. William and Kate were childless as their only baby had died when he was six months old. Taking in six recently orphaned, unhappy children ranging in age from one to twelve must have been extremely difficult and demanding, and the situation was made worse by the fact that the Masefield family had recently lost its money and possessions in order to shore up the family business. No doubt education and literature in particular came a poor second to the need to earn a living in Kate and William’s view, and the Merchant Navy offered education and a steady career, even if as John Masefield describes in his poem Dauber, life at sea could be very dangerous.
-Reggie-(Middle)-Harry-(bottom)-at-the-Knapp.png)
In a future post I will describe the bitterness that arose between Aunt and nephew as a result of her inability to accept his literary leanings and creative ability, and show how he overcame the handicaps imposed by his difficult childhood, even turning them to advantage in his writing. The influence of Ledbury – and of The (wicked) Aunt – can be found in all his best works, and especially in his Kay Harker stories.
My mother stayed with Uncle William and Aunt Kate at the Priory as a child when the family returned to England from Sri Lanka in 1920. She remembers her being strict, but also fair. On one occasion my mother broke a vase and owned up, trembling with terror, to Aunt Kate. But, she told me, because she had admitted to breaking it, Aunt Kate was nice about it her and forgave her.
Above: The Knapp, John Masefield's childhood home
Left: Three of the Masefield brothers: John (top), Reggie (middle) and Harry (bottom)
Caroline Magnus is a great-niece of John Masefield and Chair of the John Masefield Society.
Blog Post #5: Masefield's Family
Masefield Matters, 23rd June 2025
Constance
Today is the wedding anniversary of John Masefield and his wife Constance (nee de la Cherois Crommelin). Their marriage was somewhat unusual for Edwardian England, as Constance, a school teacher from a wealthy Irish family, was almost twelve years older than Masefield. At the time they married, Masefield was still a struggling poet, aged just 25, in the early stages of his career with no stable income. Meanwhile, Constance was Cambridge educated, had a stable career as a headmistress of a school, which she continued after they married.
Despite their differences, the pair shared many of the same views and values, and had a similar love for the arts. They wrote almost constantly to each other when John travelled, and she was a great inspiration to him. The Masefields had two children: Judith, who would go on to illustrate her father’s works, and Lewis, an aspiring author who died in North Africa during the Second World War.
Lewis
This Armed Forces Week, we are remembering Lewis Crommelin Masefield. He died in North Africa serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), aged just 31. He is buried in Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Libya. Masefield was the only son of the Poet Laureate John Masefield, and was beginning his career as an author, following in his father’s footsteps. The grief his father felt is evident in his work of the time, particularly in his foreword to Lewis’ posthumously published novel, ‘All Passion Left Behind,’ which describes Lewis’ life and ideas.
Blog Post #4: The Great Big Green Week
Masefield Matters, 17th June 2025
Masefield Matters took part in Ledbury’s 11th Annual Community Day which marked the first day of the Great Big Green Week, which was celebrated with a special visitor to the recreation ground – a giant whale!
Ledbury Community Hub ran a 'Sea Fever' themed activity with
origami boats, tasty treats and a model ship. Visitors could read Masefield’s
most famous poem, then write about what the sea means to them on a strip of
fabric. These thoughts were then shared by tying the fabric to the ropes of the
ship, creating a colourful display of ideas.
We were also joined by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, who had activities based on John Masefield's magical children's books, the Midnight Folk and the Box of Delights. We made cat and fox masks based on Kay's animal friends in the Midnight Folk, our very own box of delights, and mixed up mysterious potions using natural materials. Many thanks to Ledbury Community Hub and Herefordshire Wildlife Trust for their fabulous events!
On the second day of the Great Big Green Week, Masefield Matters hosted a walk from Ledbury to Eastnor to explore the countryside that featured so heavily in John Masefield’s work. The walk was led by Carl Flint of Malvern Walks and local poet Lesley Ingram. Along the trail through the countryside, Lesley read extracts from poems written by Masefield about Herefordshire.
It was great to see so many people getting involved in our Great Big Green Week events and learning about Masefield’s connection to the local landscape.
Blog Post #2: The Ledbury Scene, Part 3
Masefield Matters, 12th June 2025
John Masefield’s most enduring works for children, The Midnight Folk and the Box of Delights, though both highly fantastic and fictionalised, draw extensively on his childhood. The settings of these books immediately demonstrates the connection to Ledbury and the local area within the first few pages. Local landmarks such as the Malvern Hills, St Michael’s Church and the aforementioned canal, all prominently feature.
Masefield notes in the Ledbury Scene that Thomas Hardy’s Wessex as an example of a writer having a strong sense of place in their works. Masefield’s Condicote is a similar construction; the world of the Midnight Folk and the Box of Delights feature very real places (mostly near to Ledbury) thinly veiled as fictionalised versions of themselves. The blurring of the magical and mundane, the fantasy and the autobiographical, in the Kay Harker books is mirrored by the concealment of the real setting of Masefield’s childhood within the story.
Check back next week for part 4
Blog Post #2: The Ledbury Scene, Part 2
Masefield Matters, 5th June 2025
The Ledbury of Masefield’s early life is still clearly visible when walking around the town. The river, rural farmhouses and the main streets of the Victorian town are all in many ways very similar, with familiar landmarks referenced in his works. The Market House, St Katherines Hall, the station and the church are markers dating back over a hundred years, and feature in several of Masefield’s works, either by name or by description.
One of the most significant changes in the landscape of Ledbury since Masefield’s time is the area that is now the Ledbury Town Trail. When John Masefield was born in the 1870s, this path to the west of the Homend was a section of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Canal. In the 1880s, this part of the canal was filled in and the railway line to Newent was built in its place. The canal is featured as the setting of parts of the Box of Delights, which is broadly inspired by Masefield’s childhood, as well as the Everlasting Mercy. By the time of the Widow in the Bye Street, the railway line has arrived, bringing new employment to the character in this poem.
Check back next week for part 3
Blog Post #3: Green Wood Carving at Childer Wood
Masefield Matters, 3rd June 2025
Last week, Masefield Matters took a small group of young people to take part in a green wood carving session. We worked with LEAF Ledbury’s youth group and Ruth Joiner and Gudrun Leitz to bring the young people to Childer Wood. Here they got a chance to share in the love of the natural world and the local countryside that inspired John Masefield so heavily.
In the session, run by, the group made thumb sticks inspired by two sticks in the John Masefield Archive. They learned to recognise suitable hazel stems, practiced green wood carving techniques, and heard how John Masefield travelled the world with his thumb stick. We then lit the campfire using a traditional flint and steel and cooked a lunch of woodfired pizza with foraged toppings, including wild garlic, nettles and hawthorn.
The young people had a great time learning new skills and being creative in nature, as did the Masefield Matters team! We are looking forward to our second session in the woods at the end of June, where we will learn more about John Masefield and his love of the local countryside.
Blog Post #2: The Ledbury Scene, Part 1
Masefield Matters, 21st May 2025
John Masefield was born in Ledbury in 1878 and baptised in nearby Preston Church. His early childhood was spent at the Knapp (a large house that is now north of the Tesco Superstore) with his father George, a solicitor, his mother Caroline, and his five siblings. The children were orphaned after the death of their mother, paternal grandparents and father within a few short years.
The Masefield siblings remained in Ledbury, now living in the Priory on Worcester Road with their aunt and uncle. John Masefield lived in the town until he was sent to the Merchant Navy training ship HMS Conway by his aunt as a young teen. From the age of thirteen, Masefield did not return to live in Ledbury for any significant length of time, but visited Ledbury and Herefordshire frequently as an adult, with much of his family still living nearby.
From his writing, it is clear that Masefield remembered the town fondly throughout his life, and Ledbury featured prominently in much of his poetry and children’s works.
Check back next week for part 2
Blog Post #1: Introducing Masefield Matters
Masefield Matters, 22nd April 2025
Welcome to the Masefield Matters blog, where we will be posting regular updates on the project as well as other John Masefield inspired places, people and ideas. In this first post, we’ll be exploring the beginning of the project and what we plan to do over the next few years.
John Masefield was a best-selling poet and author from Ledbury, eventually becoming Poet Laureate between 1930 and 1967. Since his death, he has since faded from public memory. The Masefield Matters project was started to explore his legacy through a range of events celebrating his work, his life, and the things that mattered to him. The project will finish with a memorial celebrating John Masefield's 150th anniversary in 2028. The form this memorial takes will be chosen by you, the community through a series of consultation workshops.
The Masefield Matters project is run by Ledbury Town Council, with support from the John Masefield Society (see their website for more information on what they do, as well as a biography of John Masefield and a bibliography of his work). In 2024, the project received a £222,000 grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, to whom we are immensely grateful.
The project has two main goals; to bring Masefield back into the public consciousness in Ledbury, and to produce a memorial to him so that he will always be remembered here. We are currently planning a range of engagement activities for the community of Ledbury to take part in, where we will be celebrating John Masefield’s poems and novels, as well as inspiring creativity and artistic expression. Then you will get a say in how he will be memorialised.
Our launch event in January featured poetry read by Sara-Jane Arbury and the story of John Masefield by Caroline Magnus, great niece of John Masefield, and member of the John Masefield Society. Our first event was Ledbury’s World Bookfest in St. Katherine’s Hall. This brought stories to life on World Book Day, and gave children the opportunity to make masks and boxes based on Masefield’s The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delight. We have plenty more events coming over the summer, so stay tuned!
Visit us on Community Day on 7th June to have a chat and find out more. To find out more about our upcoming events and the poems and life of John Masefield, visit our website or check out our Instagram page @masefield_matters.