Direct! Action! Protest and the Forest
Panel discussion with me talking about the threat of enclosure during the C19th, and the people who helped save the forest, including my ancestor Thomas Willingale.
On 4 May at Leytonstone Library there is a free day of events looking at the role of Direct Action and Civil Disobedience in Waltham Forest. Includes screening by Undercurrents, Free Vegan Lunch and Direct Action Training workshop. There are only 25 spaces.
https://wfculture19.co.uk/events/directaction
As part of Waltham Forest, London Borough of Culture 2019 there will be a day of screenings, discussions and workshops to investigate Waltham Forest’s rich history of community action and protest. This will include a panel discussion with Ellie Wilson tracing the efforts of Thomas Willingale in the 1800s, whose actions kickstarted the campaign that saved Epping Forest for the people of London, through to the M11 link road protests in the 1990s, documented by the revolutionary activist video group Undercurrents, and finally drawing links to similar, contemporary direct action protest movements with Resist + Renew. Following this discussion, the audience will be invited to take part in a Direct Action training workshop and the production of a new video. The finished video will be shown as part of Art Night 2019. Free and accessible to all. Refreshments will be provided by Tegan the Vegan.
To book a place visit https://wfculture19.co.uk/events/directaction
Music video for Halyard
Video for my single Halyard.
My mate David Lefeber has created this atmospheric video for my single Halyard. We filmed boats, sea, lobster pots and some dead things in Hastings last year.
Halyard was written, performed and recorded by me in Imogen Holst's Cottage in Aldeburgh on a very dark and rainy day - I reckon you can hear some of that gloominess in the music!
Here’s some photos from the day of filming:
Nice words about Halyard …
‘... in a very short time she creates a wonderful arch and line of sound. Saving a little surprise towards the end - a beautifully poised and composed work combining electronics, violin & bass’ Errollyn Wallen, BBC Radio 3
‘A really haunting piece ... there’s a real sense of place’ Sean Rafferty BBC Radio 3 In Tune
Iron Age earthworks in Epping Forest
The first in a series of blogs exploring the history of Epping Forest.
“The Past has a life in the forest. Nowhere is it easier to imagine the long pageant of history”
#1 Grimsbury Castle (Iron Age Hillfort in West Berkshire)
Loughton Camp is one of the most magical places in Epping Forest. One of two Iron Age earthworks in Epping Forest (the other, Ambresbury Banks, is situated a little further North), it is thought to have been built around 500BC and used by the neighbouring Trinovantes and Catuvellauni tribes to hold livestock and as a place of refuge. By the time Julius Caesar led the Roman invasion in 55AD, the Trinovantes were considered the most powerful Celtic tribe in Britain, teaming up with Boudica and the Iceni during the uprising against the Romans in 61AD. Although excavations have proven Romans were in the forest, the legend that Ambresbury Banks was the location of Boudica’s defeat has been dismissed by historians.
Loughton Camp is hidden off the beaten track in Great Monk Wood, on the edge of a high ridge approximately 110m above sea level. It is now densely wooded, but the 10 acre camp would have been built there as a great viewpoint. The banks would have been 3 metres high and the ditches surrounding them 3 metres deep. Image #1 shows how a hillfort built around the same time might have looked.
#2 Loughton Camp Map (drawn by BH Cowper C19th)
Fast-forward over 2000 years and Loughton Camp is also said to be where highwayman Dick Turpin had his hideout in the 1700s. Such was Turpin’s notoriety in the area that many Loughton residents built ‘Turpin Traps’, wooden flaps at the top of the stairs that wedged between floor and ceiling keeping them and their valuables safe - a sort of C18th panic room! Nowadays the forest is thick with trees right up to the edge of the roads, but back then they were kept clear to prevent robbers like Turpin from lying in wait to ambush unsuspecting carriages.
#3 Loughton Camp c1885
I find it fascinating to think of all the people who have stood on the site of this camp before me, their stories embedded in the spirit of the place. Even in the short period of 130 years the area has changed. See in photo #3 how open the space is, with lots of fox and rabbit burrows, versus in #4 how tall hornbeams surround the area cathedral-like today.
If you want to go and explore for yourself, here are the directions on the Epping Forest website
#4 Loughton Camp Dec 2018 with the family
Artist-In-Residence Epping Forest
I’ve been invited by City of London Epping Forest to be its Artist in Residence in 2019.
If you follow me on Instagram you may have recently noticed an influx of photos of trees, mushrooms and ponds. I am excited to announce that I’ve been invited by City of London Epping Forest to be Artist in Residence in 2019 - a whole year let loose in the forest to explore nature, local history and sound.
Having lived near the forest all my life, I'm in my element researching how people have shaped Epping Forest throughout the centuries: you can find Iron Age camps, medieval roads, a Tudor hunting lodge, an C18th grotto, pollarded trees, ponds created by WWII bombs, and maybe even Dick Turpin’s hideout!
Although most of my reading is online, it’s lovely to have some books to dip into. Some of the older ones I own belonged to my Great Grandfather, who lived on Smarts Lane in Loughton. I’ll shed some light on my family connections to the history of the forest in another blog.
Over the coming months I will be writing music inspired by the stories and the places I visit in the forest. If you want to follow my progress, please sign up to my newsletter and follow me on Instagram I Facebook I Twitter.
Forest Focus Magazine announces my residency on pages 5 and 13.
My project will be linked to Waltham Forest’s year as London Borough of Culture 2019, a Mayor of London initiative, and will integrate with an exciting new project called ‘The People’s Forest’ which is being curated by Luke Turner and Kirsteen McNish.
Want to visit Epping Forest? The London Overground connects London Liverpool Street to Epping Forest at Chingford and the Central Line offers access points to the forest from Leytonstone through to Epping.
Stick In The Wheel
Stick In The Wheel 2018 round-up
I’ve tried to put a selection of mobile phone snaps and screen grabs in some sort chronological order but to be honest, this year with Stick In the Wheel is all a bit of a blur! We have travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles and made it across the Channel once, to Gooikoorts Festival in Belgium, where we were handed the heatwave rider essential for all bands - frozen towels. There’s been sell-out shows, big shows (main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival was an experience!) and awesome smaller shows like at our local, the Wanstead Tap.
We released our second album in January (Follow Them True) which got to No 17 in the Official UK Indie Album Charts, and had some pretty special things said about it, which was nice. Did a number of radio live sessions (Mark Radcliffe Radio 2 Folk Show, Tom Robinson 6Music, John Kennedy Radio X), and released a mixtape in November (This and the Memory of This). Fran and Si also managed to have a baby in the middle of it all (Robin Foote 13.06.18).
There’s so so much more …. check out some of the photos and videos below and visit our website for albums, 2019 gigs, news and all that: www.stickinthewheel.com
banner photo from Wanstead Tap by @kjmartin88
Guest Presenter for ResonanceFM
My show focused on new releases from the folk and contemporary classical worlds.
This year I’ve been guest presenter for The Nest Collective Hour on Resonance 104.4FM. It’s been a lot of fun building playlists for the show, which have focused on new releases from the traditional folk and contemporary classical worlds.
I’ve had some great live guests too, including Moore Moss Rutter, You Are Wolf, Jo Quail, Santiago Quartet and Cunning Folk.
My Top 5 favourite new releases played this year:
Maarja Nuut & Ruum: Haned Kadunud (Muunduja)
Anna & Elizabeth: Ripest of Apples (The Invisible Comes to Us)
Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet: Dreams (Landfall)
Missy Mazzoli & Olivia De Prato: Vespers for Violin (Streya)
Richard Thompson: The Rattle Within (13 Rivers)
You can listen to all my shows on mixcloud. Here’s some of my favourites:
New single: Halyard
A really haunting piece ... there’s a real sense of place’ Sean Rafferty BBC Radio 3 In Tune
Halyard was written, performed and recorded by me in Imogen Holst's Cottage in Aldeburgh on a very dark and rainy day.
‘... in a very short time she creates a wonderful arch and line of sound. Saving a little surprise towards the end - a beautifully poised and composed work combining electronics, violin & bass’ Errollyn Wallen, BBC Radio 3
‘A really haunting piece ... there’s a real sense of place’ Sean Rafferty BBC Radio 3 In Tune
2018 airplay:
BBC Radio 3 In Tune (08.03.18) for #IWD18
BBC 6 Music Stuart Maconie's Freakzone (28/01/18)
photo: Imogen’s Cottage, Church Walk, Aldeburgh, Suffolk