Larkin

PHILIP LARKIN (1922 - 1985)

The celebrated poet had been in Newcastle before 1953, was in Durham in the summer of 1958, and in Newcastle again in 1963, this time professionally to study the lay-out of the university library. Larkin dedicated The Less Deceived (1955) to Monica Jones, with whom he spent many holidays in the flat she owned at 1A Ratcliffe Road in Haydon Bridge. Monica's mother came from St John's Chapel in Weardale, and as Monica approached Haydon Bridge by rail from Newcastle (she didn't drive) she always felt she was coming home. She had bought the cottage in 1961, and when Larkin visited in April of the following year, he wrote:

'I thought your little house seemed... distinguished and exciting and beautiful... it looks splendid and it can never be ordinary with the Tyne going by outside... You have a great English river drifting under your window...'

When Monica bought the house, this view could be seen from the living-room. The cottage has since been altered.

According to Andrew Motion's biography, Larkin and Monica 'lazed, drank, read, pottered around the village and amused themselves with private games.' Larkin used to buy the Telegraph and the Observer from the newsagents. The place always cheered them both up. 'As always, the place worked its spell', wrote Larkin. From here they journeyed to the Lake District and elsewhere (Larkin passed his driving test at the first attempt in 1963). They visited Hadrian's Wall, Langley Castle, Allendale and Allenheads. They certainly crossed into Scotland at Carter Bar and Larkin has some jocular lines in a letter substituting Morpeth for Macbeth. He also mentions Holy Island in passing, as well as Corstopitum (Corbridge). The pair occasionally dined out with friends at the Lord Crewe arms in Blanchland, where Auden (q.v.) had stayed with Gabriel Carritt in 1930. Despite Larkin's admiration for Auden, however, he seems to have been unaware that this whole area was the older poet's 'great good place' and figured prominently in his verse throughout his life.

Larkin and Monica used to attend the spectacular New Year's Eve 'tar barrel' celebrations in Allendale; they were certainly there in 1966 and again in 1970 and 1976. Larkin was, rather uncharacteristically, thrilled by it all. His notable poem 'Show Saturday' is a description of the 1973 Bellingham show in the North Tyne valley. He refers to Haydon Bridge and its California Gardens allotments in the poem:

Back now to private addresses, gates and lamps
In high stone one-street villages, empty at dusk,
And side roads of small towns (sports finals stuck
In front doors, allotments reaching down to the railway);
Back now to autumn, leaving the ended husk
Of summer that brought them here for Show Saturday.

On 'Desert Island Discs' (17.7.76) one of Larkin's choices was what he calls a Newcastle street-song of the 1790s 'Dollia' sung by Louis Killen. Though folk song was not one of Larkin's keenest interests, he did own Killen's LP 'Along the Coaly Tyne' (Topic, 1962). Moreover, one of Larkin's notable later poems 'The Explosion' (1970) is based, according to him, on 'a song about a mine disaster, a ballad, a sort of folk-song. I thought it very moving... It made me want to write the same thing, a mine disaster with a vision of immortality at the end.' This strongly suggests Tommy Armstrong's famous 'Trimdon Grange Explosion' of 1882, Killen's version of which appears on the LP. One also notes the use, in both works, of the word 'explosion' rather than the more usual 'disaster'.

In 1982, Monica retired to live in Haydon Bridge. Larkin called her 'Bun', a Beatrix Potter allusion, and both called 1A Ratcliffe Road her 'Rabbit Hole'. Larkin was fond of animals, particularly rabbits; they were also Monica's favourite animal. She often asked to see the pet rabbits of the Willis family next door. On one occasion, Larkin asked to photograph them with Monica in the back yard. When Merlin, the cat at the General Havelock pub, was locked in Monica's cottage, Larkin drove her to Haydon Bridge to let it out.

Monica finally left the cottage in 1984, when ill-health prevented her living alone. She continued to enquire about it, however, asking Mrs Willis by phone: 'How is my little house?' 'How is my river, is it high?' A prospective buyer recalls that Monica talked about Haydon Bridge as if it were paradise; she was still desperately reluctant to sell the property and even nurtured thoughts of an eventual return. Andrew Motion visited to retrieve letters left lying about. The cottage had been left empty for over five years and broken into three times. When she died on 15 February 2001 Monica, who had become a major beneficiary of Larkin's will some months before his death, left a quarter of a million pounds each to Hexham Abbey and Durham Cathedral.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
PHILIP LARKIN (1922 - 1985) The celebrated poet had been in Newcastle before 1953, was in Durham in the summer of 1958, and in Newcastle again in 1963, this time professionally to study the lay-out of the university library. Larkin dedicated The Less Deceived (1955) to Monica Jones, with whom he spent many holidays in the flat she owned at 1A Ratcliffe Road in Haydon Bridge. Monica's mother came from St John's Chapel in Weardale, and as Monica approached Haydon Bridge by rail from Newcastle (she didn't drive) she always felt she was coming home. She had bought the cottage in 1961, and when Larkin visited in April of the following year, he wrote: 'I thought your little house seemed... distinguished and exciting and beautiful... it looks splendid and it can never be ordinary with the Tyne going by outside... You have a great English river drifting under your window...' When Monica bought the house, this view could be seen from the living-room. The cottage has since been altered. According to Andrew Motion's biography, Larkin and Monica 'lazed, drank, read, pottered around the village and amused themselves with private games.' Larkin used to buy the Telegraph and the Observer from the newsagents. The place always cheered them both up. 'As always, the place worked its spell', wrote Larkin. From here they journeyed to the Lake District and elsewhere (Larkin passed his driving test at the first attempt in 1963). They visited Hadrian's Wall, Langley Castle, Allendale and Allenheads. They certainly crossed into Scotland at Carter Bar and Larkin has some jocular lines in a letter substituting Morpeth for Macbeth. He also mentions Holy Island in passing, as well as Corstopitum (Corbridge). The pair occasionally dined out with friends at the Lord Crewe arms in Blanchland, where Auden (q.v.) had stayed with Gabriel Carritt in 1930. Despite Larkin's admiration for Auden, however, he seems to have been unaware that this whole area was the older poet's 'great good place' and figured prominently in his verse throughout his life. Larkin and Monica used to attend the spectacular New Year's Eve 'tar barrel' celebrations in Allendale; they were certainly there in 1966 and again in 1970 and 1976. Larkin was, rather uncharacteristically, thrilled by it all. His notable poem 'Show Saturday' is a description of the 1973 Bellingham show in the North Tyne valley. He refers to Haydon Bridge and its California Gardens allotments in the poem: Back now to private addresses, gates and lamps In high stone one-street villages, empty at dusk, And side roads of small towns (sports finals stuck In front doors, allotments reaching down to the railway); Back now to autumn, leaving the ended husk Of summer that brought them here for Show Saturday. On 'Desert Island Discs' (17.7.76) one of Larkin's choices was what he calls a Newcastle street-song of the 1790s 'Dollia' sung by Louis Killen. Though folk song was not one of Larkin's keenest interests, he did own Killen's LP 'Along the Coaly Tyne' (Topic, 1962). Moreover, one of Larkin's notable later poems 'The Explosion' (1970) is based, according to him, on 'a song about a mine disaster, a ballad, a sort of folk-song. I thought it very moving... It made me want to write the same thing, a mine disaster with a vision of immortality at the end.' This strongly suggests Tommy Armstrong's famous 'Trimdon Grange Explosion' of 1882, Killen's version of which appears on the LP. One also notes the use, in both works, of the word 'explosion' rather than the more usual 'disaster'. In 1982, Monica retired to live in Haydon Bridge. Larkin called her 'Bun', a Beatrix Potter allusion, and both called 1A Ratcliffe Road her 'Rabbit Hole'. Larkin was fond of animals, particularly rabbits; they were also Monica's favourite animal. She often asked to see the pet rabbits of the Willis family next door. On one occasion, Larkin asked to photograph them with Monica in the back yard. When Merlin, the cat at the General Havelock pub, was locked in Monica's cottage, Larkin drove her to Haydon Bridge to let it out. Monica finally left the cottage in 1984, when ill-health prevented her living alone. She continued to enquire about it, however, asking Mrs Willis by phone: 'How is my little house?' 'How is my river, is it high?' A prospective buyer recalls that Monica talked about Haydon Bridge as if it were paradise; she was still desperately reluctant to sell the property and even nurtured thoughts of an eventual return. Andrew Motion visited to retrieve letters left lying about. The cottage had been left empty for over five years and broken into three times. When she died on 15 February 2001 Monica, who had become a major beneficiary of Larkin's will some months before his death, left a quarter of a million pounds each to Hexham Abbey and Durham Cathedral.
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