The author and poet Marguerite “John” Radclyffe Hall spent much of her life in Malvern Wells with her (consecutive) partners Mabel Batten and Una Troubridge.  Her most famous literary piece is “The Well of Loneliness”, which is set in Great Malvern and thought to be highly influenced by Radclyffe Hall’s life and experiences as an openly lesbian woman in the early 20^th century. However, to truly see her influences and love of the Worcestershire landscape, we turn to her poems, many of which were about the county’s landscapes and wildlife.

In particular, her “Songs of Three Counties” anthology is considered the greatest set of works influenced by Worcestershire. In these poems she paid homage to the Malvern Hills, the Worcester Beacon, Bredon Hill and the Severn and Avon rivers.

The first poem in the anthology, titled “Walking Out”, tells the story of two women climbing up to the Worcester Beacon. On their journey, they see a singing thrush in a cherry tree, look down upon the “silver bow” of the River Severn and hear a nightingale as the stars emerge.

Upon a Sunday afternoon,
When no one else was by,
The little girl from Hanley way,
She came and walked with I.

We climbed nigh to the Beacon top,
And never word spoke we,
But oh! we heard the thrushes sing
Within the cherry tree.

The cherry tree was all a-bloom,
And Malvern lay below,
And far away the Severn wound -
’Twas like a silver bow.

She took my arm, I took her hand,
And never word we said,
But oh! I knew her eyes were brown,
Her lips were sweet and red.

And when I brought her home again,
The stars were up above,
And ’twas the nightingale that swelled
His little throat with love!

The poems “The Hills” and “The Malvern Hills” are explicit references to Radclyffe Hall’s local area. Other poems inspired by the Malvern Hills include “The Shadow of Raggedstone”, which pays tribute to the locally cursed hill. Referring to the bird song, smell of the sweet earth and the rise of the moon, “Dusk in the Lane” describes a scene at twilight.

Radclyffe Hall’s repertoire went beyond just the Malverns, with her inspiration also coming from Bredon Hill. “The First Cuckoo” recites the joy of hearing the first cuckoo call coming from a blackthorn bush atop Bredon Hill, whilst “Bredon” poetically describes how the hill stands lonesome in comparison to its Malvern and Cotswold neighbours.

To-day I heard the cuckoo call,
Atop of Bredon Hill,
I heard him near the blackthorn bush,
And Oh! my heart stood still!

For it was just a year ago,
That to my love I said,
“When next we hear the cuckoo call,
Then you and I will wed.”

My love and I we still be two,
And will be, many Springs;
I think the saddest sound on earth
Is when the cuckoo sings.

Wildlife is found throughout Radclyffe Hall’s poems. In addition to song thrush, nightingale and cuckoo, she references swifts departing for the winter and a robin’s song across a stark winter landscape. Vivid descriptions of fiery sunlight through autumn leaves, the green buds of springtime hazel and carpets of primroses and cowslips across the woodland floor, all cement nature's influence alongside Radclyffe Hall's freedom to express herself through her poems.

Although she died in 1943, she is still a celebrated queer figure. She was recognised by The Pink Paper magazine and ranked 16^th in the top 500 lesbian and gay heroes.  At Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, we celebrate her queer influence on the literary world as well as her love of nature and the Worcestershire countryside.

If you'd like to read more of Radclyffe Hall works, they're available as part of Project Gutenberg's Songs of the Three Counties ebook.

To find out more about the Trust's aim to inspire, empower and engage people from all backgrounds, cultures, identities and abilities to enhance the natural world for the better, take a look at our wild about inclusion page. 

Finley Reynolds is a Natural Networks Officer for Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Finley is committed to nature being accessible to everyone and is keen for a society where true self-expression is accepted by all.