Amanda Johnson

Explore Elsecar in a different way through a series of musical soundscapes created by composer Amanda Johnson. Immerse yourself in sound and music inspired by the lives of travelling people who regularly visited Elsecar. Walk in the footsteps of canal Bargees, Romany Traveller horse dealers and people who travelled with the fair and discover the locations they visited and why. 

Funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) utilising Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) monies dedicated to supporting the cultural and creative industries across the region. The grant is administered by Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust (BMHT).

On the 1901 census there were three boats moored in Elsecar canal basin. Aboard the keel barge 'Prolific' was George Turner, his wife Florence and a servant, Charles Waterland. George and Charles were born in Lincolnshire and Florence in Nottinghamshire. Next to them aboard the keel barge 'Victory' were Edward Hord, born in Knottingley, his wife Elizabeth and 3 young daughters, all born in Hull.  They also had a coal boat moored a little further down the canal at Simon Wood colliery basin. While here they would have done their washing and cleaned their living quarters. In this soundscape you will hear sounds of family life together with the water gently lapping against the creaking wooden boats.

The lock would have been used by keel barges travelling up and down the canal. These boats came to pick up heavy loads of coal from Elsecar, Simon Wood and Hemmingfield colliery to take out to Hull. They also brought goods with them, such as spices to be sold by the spice merchant based at the side of the canal in Hemmingfield.

The Ship Inn is now used as a private house, but in the days when it was still a public house, it was reputedly frequented by Bargees from the canal, possibly from as early as the 1700s. Created with the help of children from Hoyland Springwood Primary School, this soundscape will transport you to a typical pub scene, at a time when the canal was in its heyday, with music, laughter and of course drinking!

The Romany Gray and Smith families would have been selling pegs and other goods in the markets of Elsecar and Hoyland, as well as door-to-door in these and other surrounding villages. The old market place was round the back of Milton Hall. The name of this small road is still Market Place. A street band and other entertainers delight the crowds in a bustling market place, very different to how it looks now. The sounds you hear were created with the help of children from Hoyland Springwood Primary School

The annual Elsecar Feast was held on 'Crab Field' until the 1940s, just off Armroyd Lane. This is now Elsecar Cricket Club. The Feast moved to Furnace Field, at the back of the Heritage Centre in 1947. The feast was usually held in late May or early June and villagers would have time off work to attend the festivities. Cricket matches and the ‘hospital sing’, to raise money for the hospital, were usually held at the time of the feast as well. This soundscape, created with the help of children from Hoyland Springwood Primary School, imagines a parade of people on their way to the hospital sing and before heading off to enjoy the feast.

According to an unpublished autobiography, written in 1865-1890 by Paul Morrell, a resident of Elsecar, the Romany Gray family were camping on ‘the low road’ between these dates in waggons and tents. They were travelling horse dealers and peg traders and would have been regular visitors to the village, where they would have sold their goods in the markets and traded horses at the horse fairs as well as with local farmers. The census of 1911 tells us that there is also a family of Smiths living in a house at Sebastopol, which was where Millmount Road now is. Among the Smiths at Sebastopol were peg makers, peg traders and a joiner. Both the Romany Smith and Gray families were well-known for their musical skill.

Reservoir House can no longer be seen but was up near Elsecar reservoir. It was the home to lock keeper, Albert Tollerfield, who had Richard Inchliffe Moxon, a keel man on the canal, staying over with him on the 1901 census. Find a nice spot to stand or sit for a while and lose yourself in this soundscape, which uses data collected from the plants at the side of the reservoir as part of the music.

Furnace Field behind the ironworks was the site of Elsecar feast from the 1940s onwards. The Tuby  family were involved in Elsecar feast until it ended and to this day continue to run fairs in  the  Barnsley area. An article from the Barnsley Chronicle in 1911 states that Elsecar Feast has begun its demise due to ‘sensational new inventions’ such as the cinematograph. There is not much to see now but this soundscape recreates some of the atmosphere of the fair in times gone by.

Amanda Johnson Composer

Travelling Through - A Soundwalk for Elsecar

Travelling Through - A Soundwalk for Elsecar

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The Echoes

Elsecar Canal Basin

Top Lock

The Ship Inn

The Old Market Place

Crab Field

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Travelling Through - A Soundwalk for Elsecar

room 8 ECHOES

DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO DISCOVER THIS TOUR AND MANY OTHERS.

The Echoes

Elsecar Canal Basin

Top Lock

The Ship Inn

The Old Market Place

Crab Field

Discover more geolocated content in our apps.

Are you a creator?

Get in touch

Echoes creative apps

Echoes labs

About us

8 ECHOES