394
North Norfolk.
18
At present, at least 13 species are endangered throughout East
Anglia.
19
But sylvan consolation does not appear to depend upon the actual number of
trees in a glen, or the frequency with which migrating birds are spotted (Norfolk
County may well have the largest number of avifauna throughout the United
Kingdom).
20
Nor was John Crome privy to such declarations born of true desperation as the “Global Charter for Rewilding the Earth – Advancing nature-based solutions to the extinction and climate crises” (2020), a “Vision” which is clearly
characteristic of our times: “We believe that the world can be more beautiful, more
diverse, more equitable, more wild.”
21
The cumulative weight of ongoing devastations before and since the time of the Norwich School brings us to a very peculiar
and fragile point of burden. In their biography of Crome, Derek Clifford and
Timothy Clifford speak of his lifelong emotional ties to the Norfolk landscapes
from boyhood; of impassioned, undying personal connections, and to the fact that,
allegedly, on his very deathbed, Crome told his son John Berney, “…if your subject
is but a pig-sty – dignify it”
22
(Fig. 43.2).
43.3 Cultivating One’s Backyard
At his very best, Crome bids us to follow him into the depths of the Dutch Golden
Age of landscape aesthetics, at a time when British history was providing plenty of
distractions: the Act of Union which created the United Kingdom, dissolving the
Irish Parliament; the conquest of the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar;
the first attacks by the Luddites at many of England’s major industrial establishments; introduction of Corn Laws; Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo;
marches in London for labor reforms and the deaths of 11 protestors at Peterloo in
Manchester; as well as the death of the long-serving George III. That tumult was
originating out of the politics of nearly 1.5 million urban occupants occurring in all
but a different world, 117 miles southeast of Norwich in London.
23
18 https://www.north-norfolk.gov.uk/tasks/conservation/view-conservation-areas-in-north-norfolk/. Accessed April 21, 2020. See also, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/local/conservation-areas/. Accessed April 21, 2020.
19 See “13 wildlife species in danger of disappearing from East Anglia,” Ross Bentley, May 20,
2019, East Anglian Daily Times, https://www.eadt.co.uk/business/threat-to-biodiversity-in-eastanglia-1-6059859, Accessed April 21, 2020. See also, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/
wildlife-in-the-east-of-england, Accessed April 21, 2020.
20 See “Birding in Norfolk – January thru December,” by Steve Mills, Surfbirds.com, http://www.
surfbirds.com/mb/trips/norfolk0104.html, Accessed April 21, 2020.
21 The World Wilderness Congress, www.wild11.org/charter.
22 John Crome, by Derek Clifford and Timothy Clifford, New York Graphic Society, LTD.,
Greenwich, Connecticut, 1968, p. 99.
23 See http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/empireseapower_timeline_noflash.shtml.
43 The Paradox of Solace
North Norfolk.
18
At present, at least 13 species are endangered throughout East
Anglia.
19
But sylvan consolation does not appear to depend upon the actual number of
trees in a glen, or the frequency with which migrating birds are spotted (Norfolk
County may well have the largest number of avifauna throughout the United
Kingdom).
20
Nor was John Crome privy to such declarations born of true desperation as the “Global Charter for Rewilding the Earth – Advancing nature-based solutions to the extinction and climate crises” (2020), a “Vision” which is clearly
characteristic of our times: “We believe that the world can be more beautiful, more
diverse, more equitable, more wild.”
21
The cumulative weight of ongoing devastations before and since the time of the Norwich School brings us to a very peculiar
and fragile point of burden. In their biography of Crome, Derek Clifford and
Timothy Clifford speak of his lifelong emotional ties to the Norfolk landscapes
from boyhood; of impassioned, undying personal connections, and to the fact that,
allegedly, on his very deathbed, Crome told his son John Berney, “…if your subject
is but a pig-sty – dignify it”
22
(Fig. 43.2).
43.3 Cultivating One’s Backyard
At his very best, Crome bids us to follow him into the depths of the Dutch Golden
Age of landscape aesthetics, at a time when British history was providing plenty of
distractions: the Act of Union which created the United Kingdom, dissolving the
Irish Parliament; the conquest of the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar;
the first attacks by the Luddites at many of England’s major industrial establishments; introduction of Corn Laws; Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo;
marches in London for labor reforms and the deaths of 11 protestors at Peterloo in
Manchester; as well as the death of the long-serving George III. That tumult was
originating out of the politics of nearly 1.5 million urban occupants occurring in all
but a different world, 117 miles southeast of Norwich in London.
23
18 https://www.north-norfolk.gov.uk/tasks/conservation/view-conservation-areas-in-north-norfolk/. Accessed April 21, 2020. See also, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/local/conservation-areas/. Accessed April 21, 2020.
19 See “13 wildlife species in danger of disappearing from East Anglia,” Ross Bentley, May 20,
2019, East Anglian Daily Times, https://www.eadt.co.uk/business/threat-to-biodiversity-in-eastanglia-1-6059859, Accessed April 21, 2020. See also, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/
wildlife-in-the-east-of-england, Accessed April 21, 2020.
20 See “Birding in Norfolk – January thru December,” by Steve Mills, Surfbirds.com, http://www.
surfbirds.com/mb/trips/norfolk0104.html, Accessed April 21, 2020.
21 The World Wilderness Congress, www.wild11.org/charter.
22 John Crome, by Derek Clifford and Timothy Clifford, New York Graphic Society, LTD.,
Greenwich, Connecticut, 1968, p. 99.
23 See http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/empireseapower_timeline_noflash.shtml.
43 The Paradox of Solace