Longdendale Tales

An ambient, musical, manipulated reworking of the everyday sounds of Glossop, by Clare Savory and Simon Galloway. The two sound artists have taken samples from the soundscapes of episode 31, and transformed them into warped loops, sprinkled with plenty of reverb, added a bit of synth - and voila, this is Glossopdale as you’ve never heard before! The result is a half hour long sonic journey from sp...

Enjoy listening to Glossop and its surrounding towns closer than you’ve ever done before! Soundscapes and snippets of audio have been captured over several years, and now with the public’s help, sound artist Clare Savory has transformed everyday moments in Glossopdale into a visualised piece of art. From the dawn chorus in Hadfield, to the owls tooting in Simmondley. To the sizzle of the chippy fr...

Curator Clare Savory tells the stories behind the making of episode 31’s full Glossop audio tapestry. Whilst out walking ‘the nab’ near Chunal and Charlestown, she explains why it’s become her mission to help people reclaim ‘sound’ to better their health - and their connection to others and the world around them.  By recording everyday sounds, she hopes people who live in the area will take n...

Back in March (episode 8), Clare Savory visited an almost forgotten chapel on the hillside between Woodhead and Crowden... Now a group of volunteers from across the Longdendale valley (and beyond) have rescued St James' Church. In this special Christmas episode, Clare invites Longdendale Tales listeners in for a sneak peek of the first concert at the chapel in years. Music is provided by Adrian Lo...

As the series draws to a close, Clare Savory follows an old path underneath the Longdendale Trail, where there’s another railway tunnel marked ‘The Old House’. She ponders over words Robert Macfarlane shared about the origins of paths and “the secrets they keep of adventures, meetings and departures”. Clare walks from one end of the tunnel to the other - listen closely to the buzz of the pylons, t...

It’s the final instalment of the bard of Longdendale’s story about a group of day trippers (and their plentiful hamper) travelling the region in June 1867. Actress Cordelia Howard completes the tale of the party’s return journey from Crowden to Manchester. The Longdendale Tales project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District...

Nanny Greenteeth and Nell Nettlespike, Baron de Morland and Sir Mottram De Mossland…some of the characters presented in the myths and legends about the Longdendale Valley. In particular, they feature in many of the explanations of how a hairpin along Woodhead Head earned the title ‘devil’s elbow’. Walking from The Peels Arms in Padfield to Peak Naze, Clare Savory is joined by Glossop-based science...

Whilst recording this podcast series, Clare Savory met retired-clergy-now-fellow-Hadfield-ers Janet Lees and Bob Warwicker. As passionate long-distance walkers, they’ve explored many of the corners and paths of the Longdendale Trail (and much of the country by foot).  During lockdown their observational rambles inspired their prayers to fall in the form of poetry, which are published on one o...

From the Bulls Head in Tintwistle to Arnfield Farm; Clare Savory walks along the boundary of the Peak District National Park with Cora Glasser and David Ball of Glassball Studio. Their latest project, GUIDEline, explores the nature of the park’s boundary, its history and how it was formed from Glossop to Diggle. Together they share some of the work and research they’ve uncovered over the last 4 ye...

Enjoy a windy walk with Clare Savory along the northern path of Torside Reservoir; taking time to notice the colours, the patterns, shapes and lines through an artists’ lens. Local painter Liz Armstrong from Glossop Art Society offers tips to get started sketching when out on your walks. Plus, they share the story behind the idea of open air painting, also known by the Italians as ‘pro loco’ (of a...

From wool to cotton; Kate Raine paints a picture of how the area surrounding Bottoms Reservoir looked before and during the building of the reservoirs. Including Crowden Bleach Works, Bottoms Lodge and the mystery behind Torside Paper Mill…was it actually a pub?! And - what connects Rhodeswood Reservoir with the Victoria Hall in Glossop? Spoiler alert: It’s Herbert Rhodes, one of the owners of the...

Sped up, slowed down, turned round and round - today’s Sunday soundscape is recorded walking along Crowden weir. Enjoy listening to the sound of the gushing fast flowing stream as Clare Savory turns in circles, allowing the water to move all around us. (Best listened wearing headphones!) The week’s conversations about adopting a sense of play with the children in the brook; to the issues around sa...

The party has opened and indulged in the hamper’s delights, what next for Thomas Barlow’s day-trippers enjoying a wet and wild summer’s day out in Woodhead? Cordelia Howard provides the third instalment of ‘A Picnic At Woodhead’. The Longdendale Tales project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak District National Park’s Longdendal...

Listen closely as the year 6 pupils of Parochial Primary School in Ashton Under Lyne find their feet walking in wellies along Crowden Brook! Peak District National Park community ranger/oracle Matt Ross returns to the podcast to tell us how he inspires the future generation using stories of stoneflies and nymphs. This episode includes a cringe worthy joke about the Oasis hit Don’t Look Back In Ang...

Helen Thornhill from Move More Glossop, a community partnership project led by The Bureau, encourages more of us to get fit by building activity into our everyday life. Clare Savory and Helen take a popular loop around Bottoms Reservoir to talk about who, why and how she helps people get started - no matter their mobility. Plus, they bump into a local chap called Jimmy by chance - who it turns out...

Following the medieval trackway from Padfield towards Deep Clough, archaeologist Tim Campbell-Green and Clare Savory sift through the stone mason markings in the tunnels under the Longdendale Trail, as well as spotting two apotropaic markings on a bridge: “two inverted V’s”. These religious markings are believed to have been used to ward off evil or bad luck…and perhaps witches after the reformati...

8 air crashes; 36 people killed, 2 survivors...That's just in and around the area surrounding Bleaklow moor between the years 1939 and 1956. Yet most people have only heard of (and visited) the site where the Bleaklow Bomber met its fate - a US Air Force Boeing B29A Superfortress that crashed near Higher Shelf Stones in 1948. Mountain leader Alan Clark joins Clare Savory for a second podcast episo...

Glossop Chronicle journalist David Jones walks from Hadfield Train Station along the Longdendale Trail recalling some of the stories he reported for the local newspaper. From the opening of the trail, to walking the Woodhead train line tunnels to the many paranormal sightings in and around the valley… plus, rowdy football fans and a tale about Dick Turpin! Many of the articles we talk about during...

For this week’s Sunday Soundscape, we walk beside an almost silent Woodhead Pass - usually filled with the deafening sound of lorries and cars driving all day and all night. But today, with 7 inches of snow, the area surrounding Rhodeswood Reservoir and Didsbury Intake was filled with nothing but the sounds of long tailed tits, blue tits and great tits. Well, and lots of melting ice falling from t...

In the second of four storytelling episodes, actress Cordelia Howard continues reading the bard of Longdendale’s retelling of a wild day trip to Woodhead with friends. Visit LongdendaleTales.co.uk for more information about our digital map and 28 part walking podcast series. This pilot project was supported by Glossop Creates as part of their Pairings programme, matched with Matt Ross at the Peak...

It’s the day after the snow drifts arrived across Glossopdale, and Clare is back out walking the Longdendale Trail in its thick snow covered paths. Along her way she recalls some of the poetry written by former Longdendale stompers: Ammon Wrigley, Thomas Barlow, Thomas Middleton and Ralph Bernard Robinson. Find more of their poetry, and photos of her walk on our digital map: LongdendaleTales.co.uk...

The Sidebottoms, Platts, Thornleys & Turners were big players in the industrial history of Hadfield and the surrounding area. From Station Mill, to Valehouse Mill to Waterside; Kate Raine from the Glossop Heritage Trust digs into what we know about the who, what and where of the cotton mills of yesteryear. Read more of Kate’s research here: https://glossopheritage.co.uk/ghtarchive/lostmills/ &...

Medieval track ways, benchmarks, moles and mudlarking…A walk with archaeologist Tim Campbell-Green is always educational and entertaining. (And apparently we need more jingles for this podcast…) This time we’re walking from the Palantine pub in Hadfield, via Lambgates to Roughfields - keeping our eye out for interesting stone markings, bits of pottery and gateposts. Here’s a link to the National L...

When Alan Clark’s mum gave him a copy of Ron Collier’s book about the Dark Peak air crashes as a boy, little did she know she’d be planting a seed that would turn into a lifetime obsession. These days, Alan’s a mountain leader, a published author and runs guided walks investigating the why and what’s left of plane wrecks in present day. On this episode the snow began to fall, as Clare and Alan - a...

Once upon a time a King’s jeweller and former Lord Mayor of London left in his will a pot of money to build a chapel on the valley near Crowden back in 1487. Amazingly, a version of that chapel still stands a little further down the hill today. But it’s fallen out of use. Clare walks with Richard and Meriel, members of Crowden and Woodhead Residents Association, to hear how and why they want to br...