Poet Mark Gwynne Jones releases soundscape tracing Peak District’s heritage

Performance poet Mark Gwynne Jones' atmospheric description of the jewel in Derbyshire's landscape is taken from his new audio odyssey, Voices From The Peak.

Mark has spent a year talking to miners, farmers and archaeologists and recording sounds in tunnels and old mines to document the rich heritage of the Peak District National Park.

He said: "I wanted to create something memorable to mark the 70th anniversary of the Peak District National Park coming up in 2021. I have lived on the edge of the National Park my whole life and it has had a huge bearing on who I am as a poet and sound artist.

"I was born in Matlock Bath and grew up on a hill farm between Matlock and Chesterfield. I've spent a lot of time exploring the limestone dales and caves and free climbing the gritstone edges.So I knew the area intimately but I've learned so much more during the course of this project.

"Reading and interviewing people with specialist knowledge has made me realise lots of things which I knew from first-hand experience but never really understood. Little things such as how the edges and caves were formed, the origins and nature of the rock, and why on the gritstone water is abundant while on the limestone plateau water soon disappears, so that here settlements are much more localised, built around a source of water or where wells tapped supplies from fissures underground.

"The first chapter of the soundscape Burning Drake, tells the story of how the nature of the rock has shaped not just the land but also its people. Along the way we hear the stories of old lead miners and how they would find lead through plant lore, as flowers such as lead wort grow on toxic ground and sometimes indicate where a vein of lead might be found. Another way was through dowsing and perhaps less reliably, by tracking a Burning Drake. As archaeologist John Barnatt told me - 'a Burning Drake was a shooting star, and people believed if you saw where one landed that's where you'd find the lead'.

"The fluorspar miner we hear had spent decades underground and archaeologist John has spent his life reading the landscape through layers of time."

For the project Mark, 51, slept out in Clough Wood to record the dawn chorus. He said: “I didn't bother with a tent but bedded down beneath some big oak trees. Those trees had been there long before I was born, and will still be there when I'm gone. Lying beneath them in my sleeping bag I felt about as significant as a caterpillar. We see ourselves as being so important as a species but in the scheme of things we're a tiny part of something much bigger.

"As a youth I remember listening intently to a skylark and realising just how varied their song is. But sometimes it's the sounds of more mundane things, like the squeal of gate that suddenly strikes you as quite musical or otherworldly. When coupled with people’s stories it’s like listening to the landscape talking. And that’s what we want to bring out in this new soundscape. The words and sounds we've brought together evoke the atmospheres, wildlife and stories of this strange and beautiful land of contrasts.”

Voices From The Peak was released on Friday last week to celebrate the Peak District National Park's 69th birthday. Mark said: "I'm delighted by the response it's getting. People are very moved by the work. Renowned musician and singer, John Tams, said of Burning Drake: 'This is a work of rare quality, as timeless as its subject'. Coming from someone whose work I've long admired... it means a lot."

All the contributors, interviewees and musicians live locally to the Peak, except for an extract of medieval music which was donated by Swedish group Sjal. The work was produced by Paul Hopkinson of The Foundry studio in Chesterfield.

Mark has already recorded some of the material for the forthcoming chapters, which will tell a few stories along the way Including the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, and the now vital battle to heal the moorlands.

Tom Marshall, head of communications at Peak District National Park, said: "Mark's project has always been an exciting prospect for us as we look forward to sharing our 70th anniversary in 2021. With so many of us now understandably restricted in our ability to be immersed in the Peak District in the ways we're so often used to, Mark's recordings will no doubt take on an added resonance as they allow us to continue hearing the National Park we know and love, from our homes."

The soundscape can be downloaded for free from the Peak District National Park Authority's website: www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/voicesfromthepeak