Peter Riley

 
 
Region: Staffordshire Moorlands
  

Alstonefield

 
                       Waves of limestone dive
into the ground and great shoals rear up
                                     
 
Peter Riley’s magically imaginative poem Alstonefield meanders through the local limestone dales on a series of meditative walks, ending in an all-night ramble.  He shares an intimate love of the area in language to rejoice in.
 
AlstonefieldAlstonefield
 

‘As long vales attract extended thoughts’

Local details are finely observed and true: real landscape, real wildlife, real history and archaeology.  Meanwhile the poet sweeps daringly through global and local art, politics, music and fantasy – and always the changing relationship between people and landscape.  There are gods and goddesses, skinheads, bluesmen – and a waltz with a large rabbit too.
 
Riley was born into a working family near Stockport, Manchester in 1940 and went on to read English at Cambridge University.  His poetry tends to be meditative, influenced by music and archaeological interests and both rather fantastical and highly situated.  The Peak District and Transylvania both feature heavily and in real life he visits them ‘as frequently as possible’, he says.
 
Dry stone wallsDry stone walls
 

Find the poem’s landmarks

Use maps or walking guides to find the many landmarks on the poet’s route, such as Alstonefield church, Thor’s Cave, Pea Low, Ecton Hill and Wetton Mill.
  • Izaak Walton’s famous fishing temple was built by the Compleat Angler and his friend Charles Cotton.  It is on the private land of Cotton’s ancestral home and is visible from the footpath at Beresford Dale. Cotton’s carved and painted family pew can still be seen in pretty historic Alstonefield church.
  • At Frank’i’th’Rocks Cave between Wolfscote and Beresford Dales, Frank the legendary cobbler lived with his wife and seven children.                                  
  • Ecton Hill was once Britain’s deepest copper mine, and one of the richest.  The hillside is riddled with shafts, tunnels and caves. Everywhere you will see ghosts of work past.
  • Thor’s Cave, created by prehistoric whirlpools, commands an astounding view.

Thor's CaveThor's Cave

  • Follow the Manifold Valley to Wetton Mill with its lovely streamside picnicking land by a bridge, and a teashop by holiday rental properties.
Go further: Nearby Butterton was once home to one of India’s finest men of letters, the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Rabindranath Tagore was a novelist, poet, musician, philosopher, artist, educator, friend of Gandhi, Einstein and H.G. Wells. W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound both praised his poetry.  When Gitanjali was published in English in 1912, it was a front runner in the great surge of British interest in Indian spirituality and aesthetics.
 
 

Access and orientation

Ecton is northwest of Alstonefield. Wetton and Butterton are due west along minor roads.  Parking, pubs, accommodation in Alstonefield. Parking and refreshments at Wetton Mill (for Ecton Hill and Thor’s Cave) and Hartington (for Beresford Dale).
 
                                                        all the
herbs of the valley gather round it saying
Breathe slower, there are other worlds. 
 

Visit Alstonefield, Hartington and Wetton by public transport

Public transport information for all locations can be found by calling Traveline on 0871 200 2233.
To plan your journey to Hartington, which has direct bus services from a variety of locations, visit Traveline.  For Alstonefield and Wetton, visit the Staffordshire journey planner