Over the Bridge An Essay in Autobiography

by Richard Church

Over the Bridge, the first volume of Richard Church's personal essays, originally published in 1955, takes the reader through the poet's Edwardian childhood adventures. With his detailed descriptions and insightful observations Church paints an idyllic image of his early years passed in the safety of the close-knit lower middle-class home where his loving, hard working parents did all they could to protect their sons from the harsh reality of Britain at the end of the Victorian era. He ponders with humour the disappointments of his first school endeavours; his academic failure made him feel an outcast until it was discovered that not a poor intellectual capacity but rather the child's poor eyesight was to blame for his lack of concentration and understanding of his school subjects. And finally Church takes us through his teenage years, which began happily with a promise of undisturbed literary and artistic pursuits at Camberwell Art School but were soon tainted with worry over the diminishing health of their beloved mother – the pillar of the Church family.


Over the Bridge is not only a touching portrait of Church's childhood self but also an intriguing and detailed picture of the social and economic realities of the Edwardian era. In 1955 Over the Bridge was awarded the Sunday Times Prize for Literature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Biography, Essays

69 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Richard Thomas Church CBE (26 March 1893 – 4 March 1972) was an English writer, poet and critic; he also wrote novels and verse plays, and three volumes of autobiography.

He had a great love for the Kent countryside and this is reflected in much of his writing. He published an anthology of works on Kent.

He lived at The Priest's House at Sissinghurst Castle in Cranbrook.

Reviews

[Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book put me off English Lit for the rest of my life!
I was forced to read it for O level (which I passed) in Grammar school about the time the boring author died in the mid 70s ( that’s probably why some idiotic clown put it on the syllabus!)
The “descriptive language” is pretentious boring bulls**t; what an utter waste ( even10 minutes) of an enquiring young mind!
Please turn in your grave author!!
(I went on to medical PhD, MBA & CEO of numerous biotech companies)

[Irene Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loved the language and the descriptions. Can't wait to read the next one.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is such a pleasure to read a master wordsmith who crafts the engaging, episodic story of his early years' experiences, and interlaces every page with precise and unexpected metaphors which brilliantly reveal his world to us, the world of nature and the world of human beings of every stripe. We come to feel we know the major and minor characters who peopled his world, no matter how strange or off-putting the behavior of some of them at times. We find we have some measure of understanding and empathy with even the most egregiously behaving ones. These are real people with real and sometimes heart-breaking drama, written with honesty, beauty and lyricism. And too, the very sky and corner garden and gloomy industrial air is easily visualized because of Church's precise prose. As a youngster, he takes his life matter of factly and evinces the optimism of youth, and the humility of devotion to individual family members as well as to his own inner callings. As an adult retelling his story, he offers insights perfectly paired with his memories. A beautiful read.

I look forward to reading the second volume of this autobiographical trilogy, The Golden Sovereign, followed by the third, The Voyage Home. If I am not mistaken, Richard Church is a little known author today, and he deserves to be more widely read. Through his personal story he sheds light on a whole world gone by but one we should not dismiss or forget. We have much we could learn from the resilience and aspiration-driven character of this humble man and his struggling, lower middle class English family. I would read it for the lyricism of the prose alone, but it contains so much more.

[Jonathan Gresty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember seeing copies of this book when I was at grammar school forty years ago. Now I've finally got round to reading it and understand both why it was set reading back then and also why many children probably disliked it. It is very literary, very descriptive, overwritten in many ways and rather removed from today's world. But at the same time, it is a beautiful book because of the spirit and energy that went into writing it; it is the work of someone who didn't have the opportunity to get a full education and go to university, someone who wants to avenge for that and show the Oxbridge elite that he can also write and create something highly artistic. The class consciousness running through it thus makes it a very interesting and authentic read and I'm glad to have finally read it.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful account of growing up in London at the turn of the 20th century. A different world

[Les Dangerfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first of three volumes of his autobiography, published in 1955, covering his childhood in London between the late 1890s and 1913. Church was a poet and novelist and the book gives an interesting picture of what it was like to live in London in those days in an ordinary lower middle class family. When published it won the Sunday Times prize for literature.

[Sharon Bakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to teach this to a class of secondary students in an inner-city school in Birmingham, UK. It was a torture for both them and me - we didn't connect with the book. Would be curious to revisit it though after nearly 40 years.