Roger’s gift of that word would set further ripples of influence ringing outwards. Two years later he and I would travel together to the ‘holloways’ of south Dorset, in search of the hideout of the hero of Geoffrey Household’s cult 1939 novel, Rogue Male, who goes to ground in a sandstone-sided sunken lane in the Chideock Valley. Seven years after that I would return to Chideock with the artist Stanley Donwood and the writer Dan Richards, with whom I subsequently co-wrote a small book called Holloway – though by then I had fully forgotten the work’s true origin in that letter from Roger to me about the walnut woods of Kyrgyzstan and their deep-trodden lanes.
The other gift I received from Roger’s trip to Central Asia was an apple pip. He had travelled to the Talgar Valley in the mountains of Kazakhstan in search of the ur-apple – the wild apple, Malus sieversus, that was thought to have evolved into the domestic apple, Malus domesticus, and in that form found its way to Britain thanks to the Romans. On the northern slopes of the Tien Shan massif, Roger had filled three film canisters with wild-apple pips and damp cotton wool, and carried them home to Suffolk. He planted the pips in pots on his kitchen windowsill and there they had grown to seedlings. But then Roger died and the seedlings almost died with him, as the creepers on the outside of the farm grew untended over the kitchen window and shut out the sun. Potbound and light-hungry, each seedling developed an obvious kink in its trunk from the months around Roger’s death, where they had leaned desperately sunwards.
Then Titus and Jasmin rescued them, re-potted them and gave them light. The seedlings flourished into saplings. When spring came, Titus planted out ten of the ur-apples in a field just behind the barn where Roger’s archive was kept, making an apple avenue. And Jasmin gave one of the saplings to me. I planted it in the chalky clay of my suburban garden, and to my surprise it flourished there.
It takes about twelve years for an apple tree to grow from pip to first fruiting. I write this in the spring of 2014, eleven years after Roger returned from Central Asia. My ur-apple flowers with white blossom, its leaves are a keen green, and it still has the sharp crook near the base of its trunk that remembers Roger’s death. Next year, all being well, it will fruit for the first time.
~
A life lived as variously as Roger’s, and evoked in writing as powerful as his, means that even after death his influence continues to flow outwards. Green Man-like, he appears in unexpected places, speaking in leaves. There is, of course, a tendency to hero-worship those who lived well and died too young, as Roger did. Laundry lists and emails become holy writ; hallowed places become sites of pilgrimage; admiration is expressed through ritual re-performance; and idealism threatens to occlude the actual. I know that Roger was no pure Poseidon or Herne: that he flew often and without apparent pangs to his conscience, that he could at times talk too much and at times too little, and that he was unrepeatably rude to any Jehovah’s Witnesses who made the long trudge down the track from Mellis Common to the front door of Walnut Tree Farm. But his writing did show people how to live both eccentrically and responsibly, and by both dwelling well and travelling wisely, he resolved in some measure the tension between what Edward Thomas called the desire to ‘go on and on over the earth’ and the desire ‘to settle for ever in one place’. Above all he embodied a spirit of childishness, in the best sense of the word: innocent of eye and at ease with wonder.
Though Roger is gone, many of his readers still feel a need to express their admiration for him, and the connection they felt with his work and world view, and so they still write letters, as if he might somehow read them. As I am Roger’s literary executor, and as our writings have become intertwined, many of these letters find their way to me. They come from all over the world, and from various kinds of people: a professional surfer from Australia, a Canadian academic, a woman from Exeter confined to her house due to mobility problems, a young man re-swimming the route of Waterlog, lake by lake and river by river, in an attempt to recover from depression. Titus and Jasmin have to cope with the scores of Deakinites who come on pilgrimage to Mellis each year, wanting to see the farm and its fields. Most are polite. Some expect it all to have been kept as a shrine or museum, and are offended by the changes they perceive. Some, inspired by Roger’s insouciant attitude towards trespass, wander the fields uninvited, or take unannounced dips in the moat.
But all of the pilgrims, and all the letter writers, are under Roger’s influence, and as I know that feeling well I do not begrudge them it. Among the letters I have received, one of the most heartfelt came from a Dutch-English reader, and this is how it began:
I am Hansje, born and bred in the north Netherlands where I bathed from age one in lakes, rivers and cold-water outdoor pools. Here in Warwickshire, where I have lived for some thirty-three years, I am among other things a swimmer, and if you ever wish to swim in the beautiful Avon, then do tell me and I will show you to the best and secret places. I have never experienced the profound sense of loss of someone I have never met as when I learnt that Roger had died. Many sentences in each of his books are as if engraved in me, find a resting place, a recognition, they are magnifying glass, lens and microscope to the natural world, a watery surface through which I look to see the earth clarified.
Glossary III
Waterlands
Moving Water
aber mouth of a river (into the sea), estuary; confluence of a lesser with a larger river Welsh
abhainn substantial river, often running to the sea, with numerous tributaries Gaelic
ǣwell source of a stream Old English
aghlish crook or sharp curve of a river (literally ‘armpit’) Manx
aker turbulent current East Anglia
allt strong stream or burn, usually running into an abhainn Gaelic
bala outflow of a river from a lake Welsh
bathshruth calm stream, smoothly flowing stream Irish
bay slow water above a weir Cumbria
beck stream northern England
berw of water: boiling, foaming Welsh
beuc-shruth roaring stream; cataract Gaelic
beum-slèibhe sudden torrent caused by the bursting of a thundercloud Gaelic
blaen of a river: source, headwater Welsh
borbhan purling or murmur of a stream Gaelic
brook small stream English
burn, burnie small stream northern England, Scots
burraghlas torrent of brutal rage Gaelic
caa’l mill dam; place in a stream where salmon jump North Sea coast
calbh gushing of water or blood Gaelic
caol stream flowing through a marsh Irish
cartage violent stream of water that runs through a town and carries away the off-scourings Manx
catchment area from which precipitation and groundwater will collect and contribute to the flow of a specific river ecological
cenllif torrent, swift-flowing stream Welsh
comb feature of a stream where water pours over a rock such that it stands upwards in glossy ridges, separated by grooves (Gerard Manley Hopkins) poetic
cora weir or ford that might be used as a crossing place; also a rocky ridge extending into a sea or lake Irish
còs-shruth stream running partly underground or forming hollows in its course Gaelic
crìon-allt small stream often dried up by the sun’s heat in summer Gaelic
currel small stream East Anglia
cymer confluence of two or more rivers or streams Welsh
drindle diminutive run of water, smaller than a currel East Anglia
eagmin mall slow meander or winding of a river Gaelic
easaraich boiling of a pool where a cascade falls Gaelic
faoi noisy stream Gaelic
ffrwd swift-flowing stream, gushing rill Welsh
force powerful waterfall northern England
gairneag noisy little stream Gaelic
ghyll, gill deep rocky cleft or ravine, usually wooded and forming the course of a stream northern England
glaise rivulet, stream Irish
gore muddy obstruction in a watercourse Essex
grain point where a stream branches Yorkshire
gull to sweep away by force of running water East Anglia
gulsh to tear up with violence, as a stream when swollen with floods Northamptonshire
iomashruth eddying current Gaelic
keld deep, still, smooth part of a river northern England
lade watercourse to or from a mill Galloway
land-shut flood Herefordshire
lane slow stream Galloway
latch occasional watercourse Cumbria
lum slack water at the bend of, or a pool in, a stream Cumbria
marbh-shruth that part of a river or stream the current of which is scarcely perceptible Gaelic
mill-race, mill-tail stream of water as it runs out from under the waterwheel English
nailbourne intermittent stream Kent
nant stream; stream-cut gorge, usually rocky Welsh
òs inlet or outlet of a loch Gaelic
pill creek capable of holding small barges Herefordshire
pistyll, rhaeadr waterfall, water-spout Welsh
potamic of or relating to rivers; riverine ecological
pow naturally sluggish, slow-moving stream, generally with a muddy bottom Cumbria
reach level, uninterrupted stretch of water on a river English
riag-allt fast-flowing, noisy stream Gaelic
rin stream Shetland
ruadh-bhuinne torrent embrowned by peat Gaelic
seabhainn very small river Gaelic
sgoinn small pool in the rocky bed of a stream in which salmon get imprisoned and caught when the tide is low Gaelic
sgòr-shruth rocky stream Gaelic
sill of a weir: the glassy curve where the water tips over the level English
speat sudden flood (spate) in a river following rain, snow or thaw Cumbria
spout waterfall, smaller than a force northern England
stripe small stream, burn Shetland
taghairm noise; echo; type of divination by listening to the noise of waterfalls Gaelic
threeple, tripple gentle sound made by a quick-flowing stream (incessant chattering, monotony and repetition being implied) Cumbria
tolg to sputter, vomit, as a mountain torrent Gaelic
turn-whol deep, seething pool where two streams meet Cumbria
twire movement of slow and shallow river water Exmoor
ùidh stream with a slow but strong current running between two freshwater lochs Gaelic
vaedik channel, small stream Shetland
whelm half a hollow tree, placed with its hollow side downwards, to form a small watercourse East Anglia
winterbourne intermittent or ephemeral stream, dry in the summer and running in winter, usually found in chalk and limestone regions Berkshire, Dorset, Wiltshire
wirli place where a dyke crosses a burn Shetland
ystum of a river: a bend, curve, meander Welsh
Pools, Ponds and Lakes
blatter puddle Yorkshire
botunn deep pool Gaelic
cesspools water that gathers on the ‘cess’, or land between a river and its bank, when the river is low Fenland
flosh stagnant pool overgrown with reeds Lancashire
fuarán spring, pool or fountain Irish
glumag deep pool in a river Gaelic
grimmer large, shallow, weed-infested pond East Anglia
hassock large pond Kent
lacustrine of or pertaining to a lake or lakes; lake-like geographical
leech pond or pool of water lying in the hollow of a road Lancashire
lidden pond west Cornwall
linne pool in a river, deeper than a glumag Gaelic
llyn lake Welsh
loch lake Gaelic
lochan small lake Gaelic
lodan little pool; water in one’s shoe Gaelic
loom slow and silent movement of water in a deep pool Cumbria
lough lake Irish
mardle small pond convenient for watering cattle; also to gossip, to waste time gossiping Suffolk
mere marsh; pool (used of Grendel’s abode in Beowulf) Old English
pell hole of water, generally very deep, beneath an abrupt waterfall Sussex
plash small pool Cotswolds
pudge little puddle Northamptonshire
puil pool or small marsh Scots
pulk small dirty pool Essex
stank pool caused by a dam or a stream; also the dam itself Cotswolds
staran causeway of stones built out into a loch in order to fetch water Gaelic
swidge puddle Suffolk
tarn mountain pool or small upland lake northern England
wake piece of open water in the midst of a frozen river or broad East Anglia
Rain and Storm
after-drop raindrop which falls after a cloud has passed (first cited in Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, c. 1580) poetic
bachram very heavy rain (literally ‘boisterous behaviour’) Irish
bange light rain East Anglia
bashy of a day: wet Northamptonshire
basking drenching in a heavy shower East Anglia
blashy of a day: wet north-east England
blatter to rain heavily, noisily; also to beat, thrash Galloway
bleach of rain and snow: to lash, blow in your face North Sea coast
bleeterie showery Scots
blirt short dash of rain coming with a gust of wind Scots
boinneartaich isolated drops of rain Gaelic
brais sudden heavy shower of rain Irish
braon heavy shower at the beginning of summer, favourable to the growth of plants and crops Gaelic
brenner sudden sharp gust of wind and rain on the water Suffolk
brishum, briskeno rain Anglo-Romani
chucking, henting,
hooning, hossing,
hoying, kelching,
lashing, pissing,
wazzing it down raining hard English, Scots, with countless regional variants
cith, cith-uisge shower of warm, drizzling rain Gaelic
ciùran drizzling rain Gaelic
clagarnach clatter; noise of heavy rain on an iron roof Irish
dabbledy of a day: showery Herefordshire
dag to spit with rain North Sea coast
dibble to rain slowly in drops Shropshire
dimpsey low cloud with fine drizzle Cornwall, Devon
dinge drizzle or rain mistily East Anglia
down-come, down-faw fall of rain Yorkshire
dravely of a day: showery Suffolk
dreich dull, overcast, misty, cold Scots
dribs rain which falls in drops from the eaves of thatched houses Leicestershire, Northamptonshire
dringey light rain that still manages to get you soaking wet Lincolnshire
drizzle fine precipitation with droplets less than 0.5mm in diameter meteorological
drochy warm, moist, misty Galloway
drookit soaked, drowned Doric
dropple to rain in large drops Northamptonshire
flist sudden squall with heavy rain Scots
frisk gentle rain Exmoor
gagey showery weather, unsettled and changeable south-east England
garbh-fhras boisterous shower Gaelic
gleamy showers and fitful sunshine Essex
glìbheid mixture of rain, sleet and hail Gaelic
glut long stretch of wet weather Northamptonshire
gulching downpour of rain Essex
haitch slight passing shower Sussex
heavy rain rainfall with a precipitation rate of between 4 and 16mm per hour meteorological
humidity very gentle rain Northern Ireland
hurly-burly thunder and lightning England
juggin raining steadily, not as bad as kelching Lincolnshire
land-lash high winds and heavy rain English
lattin, letty enough rain to make out
door work difficult (as in ‘let and hindrance’) Shropshire and Somerset respectively
leasty of weather: dull, wet Suffolk
light rain rainfall with a precipitation rate of between 0.25 and 1mm per hour meteorological
lummin raining heavily Galloway
mì-chàilear even more dreich than dreich Gaelic
misla, misla-in rain, raining Shelta (Irish traveller dialect)
mizzling raining lightly and finely north-west England
moderate rain rainfall with a precipitation rate of between 1 and 4mm per hour meteorological
owdrey overcast, cloudy Exmoor
pash heavy fall of rain or snow northern England
payling wind-driven shower Northamptonshire
perry wet squall Lincolnshire
planets extremely localized rain, falling on one field but not another, is said to fall in planets Northamptonshire
plothering raining heavily Leicestershire
plype heavy sudden shower Scots
posh strong shower Shropshire
rain precipitation with droplets of 0.5mm or more meteorological
scoor shower of rain Scotland
scud light, quickly passing shower Herefordshire
serein fine rain falling from an apparently cloudless sky meteorological
shatter scattering or sprinkling of rain Kent