Literary Norfolk Header and Logo
 

Low Tharston

Low Tharston is a tiny village which lies on the River Tas approximately one mile west of Tasburgh. The name probably derives from 'Therir's enclosure'. Despite its small size, the village has been home to two significant modern poets: Anthony Thwaite and Edwin Brock.

Low Tharston Sign

Low Tharston Sign

Anthony Thwaite (1930 -

In the 1970s the poet and editor Anthony Thwaite moved into the Mill House here along with his wife, the literary biographer, Ann Thwaite. (The Mill House is the pink building in the background.)

The Mill House

Tharston Mill

It provided them with a refuge from London life and they soon fell in love with the building and life in South Norfolk. Admittedly, Norfolk was not a major influence on Thwaite's poetry, but he did write a fine poem about the lost village of Eccles.

Thwaite was educated at Christ Church College Oxford and held academic posts in Japan, Libya and Kuwait. He was also Philip Larkin's editor and literary executor and Larkin visited The Mill House. In fact, there is a wonderful photograph of Larkin reclining in a punt on the river which appeared in his volume of Selected Letters 1940-1985.

Philip Larkin on the River Tas

Philip Larkin on the River Tas @ Ann Thwaite

Anthony Thwaite

While staying with the Thwaites - Larkin also visited Forncett St Peter - no doubt because of its connection with William Wordsworth.


Edwin Brock (1927-1997)

By strange coincidence another poet, Edwin Brock, moved into 'The Granary' next door to the Thwaites. Born in South London in 1927 Brock worked as a policeman and an advertising executive while pursuing his own poetry.

Edwin Brock: Poet

He moved to Norfolk with his second wife Elizabeth Skilton and for him the landscape and the River Tas provided a major inspiration. There are many poems with Norfolk settings in his collections Five Ways to Kill a Man (1990) and  And Another Thing (1998).  Brock was also the editor of Ambit - a respected poetry journal - for nearly 40 years. Here is the opening verse of his poem The Ghost Dancer:
 

It is surprising to be here, now,
among these people at the end.
Far away, or so it seems, from
anywhere where anything happened.
The tiny river Tas drags its heels
past our windows, barely able
to push aside the willowherb and reeds.
The swans have flown to deeper water
and one pike has cleared the pond.

Brocks' Norfolk-inspired poems are of a very high quality and, to date, he hasn't received the attention his deserves.
 
Links:

Anthony Thwaite - Poetry Archive

Edwin Brock - Poetry Archive

Philip Larkin Society

Search the Site

 

 
 

 

 

Supported by Norfolk County Council logoSupported by Norfolk Tourism

 
 

About Us | Poems by Cameron Self | Advertise on Literary Norfolk

©Cameron Self 2007-2011                                                                                                                Hosted by UK Web.Solutions Direct