The Ravilious Family at Ironbridge Farm

Ironbridge Farm

In 1941 Eric and Tirzah Ravilious moved from Bank House, Castle Hedingham, at very short notice, to a run-down Ironbridge Farm, Shalford, Essex. Anne had been born a week or so earlier on the 1st April.  Castle Hedingham close friend Ariel Crittall, a regular visitor to the family at Bank House had been appalled when three frogs jumped out of a cupboard under the stairs.

At Bank House Eric commented: “The electric light has failed as it is Good Friday and I am writing by candle. The fire is poor and the room is like a cave”. 

Ariel engineered the move from Bank House to Ironbridge Farm owned by her friends John and Celia Strachey. John (1901–1963) was the eminent Labour politician and writer while Celia (1900-1979), the daughter of a clergyman, had been sacked from The Spectator for being too left-wing, having joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. The Strachey’s bought the 16^th Century timber-framed house as an investment using it as a country retreat. When WW2 broke out and an invasion seemed imminent Celia and their two children were evacuated to Canada, John’s outspoken criticism of Fascism might have endangered them.

An arrangement was made between Eric and John that half of the £70 annual rent be paid in cash and half in paintings !

1941. Garden Flowers on a Cottage Table.  Flowers on a Table, unfinished.  Ironbridge Interior., June 1941.

Life at Ironbridge was to prove as difficult as it had been at Bank House, but Ariel was a constant support.

Tirzah commented when her mother arrived to help out: ‘There is a great quiet in the house broken only by cries and quacks of different birds…..these birds, they come into the passage much to mummy’s indignation, I can hear them there now. Bats will get into mummy’s room at nights. What is it about mummy that attracts these minor troubles, it’s very strange isn’t it. She has gone to church and Daddy has taken both boys for a walk, that is why it is so peaceful.’

Tirzah Garwood: pencil sketch of Eric August 1941.  The Potato Field 1941.  Ironbridge at Ewenbridge,  The bridge as painted by ER no longer exists, this photo is from 2019. 

1941  The unfinished work of boating on the River Pant was one of the paintings undertaken as part rent paid to owner of Ironbridge Farm,  John Strachey.  May Holmes, who helped with the children, and Diana Wortley posed on several occasions for this painting.

Eric’s war artist work for the Admiralty was soon to start but he managed to execute a few paints at Ironbridge before his stint in Dover late July. By October 1941 Eric was at Rosyth staying with John and Christine Nash, then later in Dundee. Eric returned home before Christmas to find all the children John, James and Anne with whooping cough. Luckily, in what was a very cold winter, Tirzah was able to get the help of a nurse. John and Myfanwy Piper had been due to visit for Christmas, but this had to be abandoned.

Worse was to come as Tirzah’s earlier minor operation to remove a lump from her breast soon necessitated a full mastectomy  performed on the 11^th March. Eric obtained leave from his posting at York and managed to continue his work at nearby Debden Airfield, handy for visits home. Then James went down with measles, Tirzah’s mother hurried to Ironbridge to help. May Holmes, who lived in a cottage down the lane took in baby Anne,  Of Tirzah’s mother Eric wrote: ‘I’m ashamed I used to dislike her so much at Eastbourne. Now I get on with her perfectly well – in any case we are both too busy to think about anything but food and fires and measles, doctors and blackouts and ducks and hens.’

Following her three weeks at Braintree Hospital Tirzah decided to write an autobiography (using an exercise book) which would be passed down to her grandchildren. ‘I want to write my life while I am happy.’

Eric was at Ironbridge, on and off during the summer of 1942. In June he commented, ‘The river here looks lovely, and I bathed today. The old man Brown who keeps the boats wears a battered old Panama and stinging vermillion football jersey in these grey-green willows.’

The Pant Valley, Shalford, February 1942. Tree Trunk & Wheelbarrow, February 1942.

Within three months of her mastectomy Tirzah was back at Braintree Hospital having fallen pregnant. The doctors considered that her health would not stand another pregnancy, so an abortion was carried out in August.

‘I was allowed to leave the hospital about a week before Eric was due to go to Iceland and he arrived on a lovely morning to fetch me away…… The morning before he was due to leave, he got up early to make the breakfast and standing in front of the mirror putting on his tie, he said “Shall I go to Iceland?”  I knew that he desperately wanted to go so I said: No, I shall be alright.’

Tirzah watched Eric depart down the lane, stopping at May’s cottage where James was being looked after. ‘I knew he might never come back but there was nothing I could do but just watch him and remember what he looked like and, with an effort’ I lifted Anne up to wave a final goodbye.’

Ironbridge was to be Eric’s last home.

Vase of Flowers in a Garden, unfinished 1941

Vase of Poppies Under a Tree. This could have been painted at Ironbridge, I’ve no date for it. Any help appreciated.

Graham Bennison December 2023.

Please also see Ariel Crittall…….  https://httpartistichorizons.org/2023/07/25/ariel-crittall/