ON THE TILLINGBOURNE... (My poem about an ancestor milling gunpowder along the River Tillingbourne, Chilworth, Surrey...)

 On the Tillingbourne…

I wanted to believe

That his worn, grimy boots,

Given a cursory polish

With cloth and blacking and phlegm

Had trudged this trodden way,

Grudging his weary day

On a pilgrimage to St Martha’s-on-the-Hill.

I wanted to grieve

For his lung-dusting trade,

Proven a dangerous game

With sulphur and charcoal and saltpetre.

Millstones dressed to coarsely grind,

Regressing his wry mind

At the foot of St Martha’s pilgrims’ hill.

I wanted to weave,

In this delightful, ancestral woodland

Haven, a milling link

With tributary and alder and burning.

Lives stressed by explosion fears,

Distressing their worry, their tears

During a funeral procession to St Martha’s-on-the-Hill…

Pete Ray

My ancestor, great, great grandfather John Hedges was a gunpowder maker for the army at Chilworth mills in Surrey and his family was linked to the church. 

I worked at Sarehole Mill in Birmingham 

during my teaching years in Museums. 

ABOVE & BELOW: AS MILLER JOE BRISCOE (A REAL VICTORIAN MILLER) WHILST TEACHING AT SAREHOLE MILL, BIRMINGHAM...

It is remarkable to think that the link to a watermill on the River Tillingbourne in Surrey could be so relevant to my life. 

Alder trees were set alight to produce the charcoal, which was mixed by milling to saltpetre and sulphur. 

John’s son (my great grandfather) was also a 

gunpowder maker for the army and became a 

soldier himself, spending a good 20 years in India. 

His son, my grandfather, Albert, was duly born in India but the family returned to England when he was a very young child.