Genius Loci 2: The Valley of Iron

This is the second part of the Genius Loci project from the prolific instrumental duo of fiddler Adam Summerhayes and accordionist Murray Grainger. The Arts Council England-funded project first took them into Derbyshire’s White Peak. This time they travel north into the Yorkshire Moors for a musical response to Rosedale, otherwise known as the Valley of Iron.

Between the 1850s and the 1920s, this wild spot in the centre of the Moors became the site of a flourishing iron ore industry. What remains today are the kilns, mines and stone buildings that stand as a legacy to the community that worked this land. The duo visited Rosedale repeatedly over a year, in all weathers and seasons, to find the spirit – or genius loci – of the place. They then turned that spirit into a set of nine tracks. Summerhayes’ fiddle playing has a melancholic languor, complemented by Grainger’s drone-like accordion. Their music, and the spaces it leaves for silence, seems perfect for reflecting the hard lives of navvies, miners and kiln workers. Yet the texture is nuanced. There is light, air and energy too, giving a sense of rhythmic industry and of the jaunty breeze on the valley tops.