Hidden in the Landscape – Stories of Cromwell Bottom

Hidden in the Landscape – Stories of Cromwell Bottom has been co-created by a local group of community actors and writers, who have worked with professional artists to develop their poetry, characters and stories.

Join us for an audio trail around Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve in Brighouse, one of the most important wildlife sites in Calderdale.

This is a chance to reconnect with the nature on your doorstep and explore its many layered history shaped by humans, industry and climate change to create the unique habitat it is today.

Put on your headphones to meet the ghosts of the past and wildlife that call it home today in this immersive audio experience featuring poetry and stories written and read by the local community.

Project Funders:
CultureDale
The National Lottery Community Fund

With thanks to:
Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group
Breaking Barriers
Our community acting and writing company

How it works

Begin the route at Cromwell Bottom Visitor’s Centre.  The numbers on the map below match up with the audio tracks you see below. When you arrive at each location, press play. 

Featured Writing

Deb Ash
I am Scarred…
Today is the Kind of Day to be Energised
Willow
Industry Poem

Sally Brown
Centipede
Did You Hear That?
The Water Understands

Helen Crossfield
The River
The Bridge
Ferns

Jennie Forrester
Kingfisher Haiku
Buzzard
Mystic Crumblebottom and Suzie

Janet Griffiths
Did You Hear That?
Woodlouse

Sam Jebson
New Zealand Pigmy Weed

Sam Jebson and Philip Bruce
Quarrymen

Adele Knowles and Iain Young
The Navvies

Lisa Roberts
Untitled
Blue Tit
Water Poetry
Six Spot Burnet Moth (Zygaena Filipendulae)

Anthony Rutherford
Birdsong
Bridge Spider
Iron Woman

Helen Scott
Haiku

Edmund Tirbutt
Getting to the Bottom

Iain Young
Beetle
Emerging Beauty

All the pieces are read by the writers, with the additional voices of Iris Greenwood, Jo Kennedy, Ali Khan, Paul Knights and Joni Sheard.