Wayland Smith's cave

 

                                 photo courtesy of Tom Saunders

Richard Jefferies wrote about the Wayland Smithy (just off the Ridgeway) in an article for the North Wilts Herald published on 2 November 1867. He wrote under the name 'Geoffrey' and there were eight articles in all as part of his 'History of Swindon and Antiquities of its Environs' that was later published as Jefferies Land and edited by Grace Toplis in 1896.

It also featured as the dolmen in Greene Ferne Farm.

 

                                                                                  photo courtesy of Hedley Thorne

Richard Jefferies memorial elm in Tolworth

Andrew Rossabi (President of the Richard Jefferies Society) gave a talk at Surbiton Library on Richard Jefferies’ Tolworth years on 26 September 2018. It was a beautiful sunny day and this memorable occasion was followed by a walk to the Richard Jefferies Bird Sanctuary where a young English elm sapling, that was Dutch elm disease-resistant, was planted as a Jefferies’ memorial in The Wood next to the Sanctuary fence and behind Surbiton Station.

'The Pageant of Summer' as an Epic Found-poem

Richard Jefferies' footstone on his grave in Broadwater Cemetery, Worthing describes him as the 'Prose Poet of England's fields and woodlands'.  Never could there be a better example of how well his prose reads beautifully as lyrical poetry as in his glorious essay 'The Pageant of Summer' that was collected in The Life of the Fields (1884).

R.D. Stapleford has introduced and edited the essay (in May 2026) and expressed it as an epic found-poem (click on the link to read in full) that begins:

Green rushes, long and thick,

Standing up above the edge of the ditch,

Told the hour of the year

As distinctly as the shadow

 

Walk around Tolworth 6 June 2026

 This guided walk, in the footsteps of Richard Jefferies' Tolworth years, will be led by local ecologist and Richard Jefferies Society member, Alison Fure. 

Please note that you need to book a place if you wish to attend. Numbers are limited for insurance reasons. Email bentonbat@gmail.com.

An Ecological Vision of Earth

 

New meeting room for the Richard Jefferies Museum

 Please help towards funding a new meeting room at the Richard Jefferies Museum. 

Artist's impression of the proposed building.

Richard Jefferies Society AGM and Spring Lecture

About the Society

 

The Richard Jefferies Society (RJS) was established on 13 June 1950 and now has members in all parts of the world. It is a registered charity (No. 1042838) managed by an Executive Council of volunteers.   

The Society aims to promote interest in, and respect for the life and works of Richard Jefferies (1848-1887).

Newsletters, with information about the writer, planned events, meetings, outings, publications and services are circulated to members twice a year along with an annual report.   In addition members receive a copy of the Society's Journal containing hitherto unpublished writing by Jefferies, new articles, research and book reviews. E-bulletins are sent out monthly. 

The Society has a special concern for such places in Wiltshire as the writer's birthplace at Coate that houses a Museum dedicated to his memory and is managed by the Richard Jefferies Museum Trust (a separate charity).

along with Coate Water (the setting for Bevis)

Liddington Hill -- "the labour of walking three miles to it ... seemed to clear my blood of the heaviness accumulated at home ... I began to breathe a new air".

and the memorial stone on Burderop Down with its iconic quote "It is eternity now. I am in the midst of it. It is about me in the sunshine." 

Other places of pilgrimage are at Surbiton, Sydenham and Eltham near London, and at Brighton, Crowborough and at his final home at Goring by Sea, Sussex where he died at the age of 38.  Richard Jefferies' grave is in Broadwater cemetery at Worthing.

‘To the honoured memory of the Prose Poet of England’s fields and woodlands’

Meetings are held in the winter months by Zoom and the Spring Lecture and Annual General Meeting take place at the Richard Jefferies Museum. 

A Bursary is available for projects that promote a new understanding of the writings of Jefferies.

The Society awards a yearly literary prize for excellence in nature writing in association with the White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough. 

The Society holds extensive archives at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Chippenham. Download a catalogue of our archives held there.

The Society is a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies. 

The Society hosts a Facebook page, BlueSky, Instagram and You Tube channel. 

The Society has issued a PrivacyStatement with regard to the use of 'cookies' on this website. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT A NEW WEBSITE IS IN PREPARATION FOR THE SUMMER OF 2026 THAT WILL GO LIVE AT richardjefferiessociety.org

For further information contact the Richard Jefferies Society

by email.

Zoom into LATE LIGHT by Michael Malay

DOWNLAND by Anna Dillon and Jonathan Davidson

The Scarlet Shawl published 150 years ago

150th Wedding Anniversary

Richard Jefferies and Jessie Baden were married at the parish church of the Holy Cross, Chiseldon on Wednesday 8^th July 1874. Richard’s brother and sister, Henry James and Sarah, were the witnesses, but it is not known if Jefferies’ parents were present, nor who else was at the ceremony.

 

Chiseldon Church, Wiltshire c1910. Kate Allen Tryon (1865–1952)

The Meaning of Butterflies: science, aesthetics, spirituality, poetics, relationship with place

 Matthew Oates will be talking about ‘The Meaning of Butterflies: science, aesthetics, spirituality, poetics, relationship with place.’

RICHARD JEFFERIES SOCIETY SPRING LECTURE

Saturday 27 April 2024, 2pm

Richard Jefferies Museum, Marlborough Road, Coate, Swindon SN3 6AA

Official recognition of the ‘Richard Jefferies Russet’ at Coate

Richard Jefferies -- his life and work in Cirencester

RICHARD JEFFERIES: A MISCELLANY

Jefferies-Williams Meeting 6 April 2019

Talk, walk and tree-planting in Surbiton

Excavating the future

Samuel Looker and Richard Jefferies