Hilaire Belloc bought King's Land (in Shipley, Sussex), 5 acres and a working windmill for £1000 in 1907 and it was his home for the rest of his life. Belloc loved Sussex as few other writers have loved her: he lived there for most of his 83 years, he tramped the length and breadth of the county, slept under her hedgerows, drank in her inns, sailed her coast and her rivers and wrote several incomparable books about her. "He does not die that can bequeath Some influence to the land he knows, Or dares, persistent, interwreath Love permanent with the wild hedgerows; He does not die, but still remains Substantiate with his darling plains."

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Tuesday, 9 March 2021

Remembering Hilaire Belloc...

 


Last year Chris Hare (director of the 'Belloc, Broadwod and Beyond' project) interviewed Bob Phillips, who has lived in Shipley since 1939, when he came to the village as an evacuee. Bob is well known in Shipley as a past chairman of the parish council, and for his work with the Scouts and Cubs. In the interview, Bob recalls, how he, and his older brother, Tom, interacted with Belloc and his family over the decades.