It’s quite likely that Housman hadn’t visited Shropshire when he wrote most – if not all – of the poems that make up ‘A Shropshire Lad’ but then, when I set Bredon Hill (A Shropshire Lad XXI) to music in the 1970s, I don’t think I quite knew where Bredon Hill is. It isn’t actually in Shropshire at all, but in Worcestershire – Housman himself was from that country, so was no doubt fully aware of that fact.
So finding myself in the Cotswolds recently, how could I not actually visit Bredon? The photograph above was taken looking approximately South past Kemerton.
The photograph below was taken looking West towards Bredon from Kiftsgate Court.
David Harley
Small Blue-Green World
