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.
To return to the main Masefield Matters webpage, please click the link below.