Norfolk Deserted Villages
|
Bixley Church
A congregation
Of nettles now reclaim your
Broken, burnt-out frame |
Godwick
Today, only the
Sheep remain - moving like clouds
Over the earthworks.
|
Shipden
Out there under the
Waves - with your cottages and
Sunken church tower. |
Little Hautbois
That sense of something
Vanished - like ghost-light fleeing
In the Bure's mirror. |
| Stanford
Church Stranded now in the
Battle Zone - with your old graves
And your blast proof roof. |
Stanford
Among the shelling
And machine gun fire lie
Your unquiet dead.
|
| Tottington You
came back to life
As a training ground for street
Fighters and snipers.
|
Eccles-on-Sea
Impermanent still:
Beach chalets and caravans
Wait to be reclaimed. |
| St Felix, Babingley
Suffocated by
Ivy - your vital signs grow
Weaker and weaker.
|
Holkham You were
excluded
Permanently by Coke's
Six mile long wall. |
| Shotesham One
church is ruined;
One is abandoned; and one
Still lives on its hill.
|
Oxnead Lady
Katherine
And Sir Clement - frozen now
In alabaster. |
| St Edmund, Egmere
They stripped out the bells
From your tower and pulled down
Your nave and chancel. |
Sturston Your
broken, sandy
Land reverted finally
To rabbit warrens.
|
