May 12, 2024

Fens and Claylands, Leeds to Wymondham and Spooner Row

I have been away for some time, back again in Norfolk.

I grew up in Cambridge, so while not truly a Fenlander, The Fens were a place I travelled and raversed, and as my range grew they were the area of mystery on the edge of my hometown.

There is something about the flat, sparse landscape that speaks to me. My youth was there, my middle life in the hard sandstone grit, coalfields and grey-green valleys of Yorkshire, and more and more I think about the fens again.

Turner said Kent had the best skies. I say it is the fens.

As I have developed my Photography and Artistic practice, it’s become aparent how much the character and geology of the landscapes have influenced me, often unknowingly.

Another thing I miss in Yorkshire is flint and chalk. To the south and east of Cambridge is the East Anglian Chalk as the low hills rise from the Gog Magogs, and travelling east, the wooded chalklands of The Brecks and the South Norfolk and High Suffolk Claylands; the transition between these latter two being my destination. Flint, Chalk and Clay. Memories of my younger days.

This has not been all for fun, my Father left this world in early May, requiring my presence in Norfolk to attend to affairs, but this task was helped very much along by a week of glorious weather in a landscape I love. And with my current explorations of gathering pigments, this provided new opportunities, of course.

This is Spooner Row, where my sister lives. I went for a walk to look around (enjoying that in many ways there is not much to see) and to look for mud and stones.

I actually has suprised me when I thought about it how much red-brick there is. In Cambridge much of the brick is yellow – an effect of the chalky clays I am sure and whereas there is still chalk here the Norfolk Clay is much redder and iron rich, do the bricks will of course be red. I just associate that with my Northern Lands far more. Holy Trinity Church in Spooner Row is a great example of this red-brick building theme, standing isolated in it’s small graveyard, looking almost abandonned (services take place twice a month, it seems).

Though we are out of the fens, the land is still overall very flat, characterised by fields at this time of the year, mostly oilseed rape, or ploughed bare, I assume to sow winter crops.

Of course it would not be my site without a train picture. Spooner Row does have a station on the Breckland Line, albeit with 2 services to Norwich and one back (to Cambridge) each day. Apparently the carrot on a stick to residents to accept more new build housing is a possible increase in services. I’ve never quite understood how a few extra stops could be such a problem when the station is there and must be maintained anyway. Though this service running right from Norwich to Liverpool Limestreet seems Hellish enough without stopping at too many places…