Peter's Field

Following multiple sold-out dates last year, Sound Roots are delighted to announce Sean Cooney’s epic musical chronicle Peter’s Field is returning to Middleton.

Peter’s Field is born from years of research and comprises 19 original songs by Cooney performed with Rowan Rheingans and Sam Carter alongside a compelling spoken narrative derived from hundreds of eyewitness accounts.

On 16th August 1819, 60,000 people gathered in the centre of Manchester. Many had walked miles to be there from all across Lancashire. They went to hear the famous radical speaker Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt who called for working people to have the vote. They were unarmed and peaceful. Local magistrates sent in the yeomanry cavalry and 15th Hussars to disperse the crowd and arrest Hunt. At least 18 people were killed and hundreds injured in the murderous scenes that followed. Women were deliberately targeted. It became known as the Peterloo Massacre. The magistrates and military were completely exonerated and it would be 100 years til working people had the vote.

Peter’s Field is presented by Sound Roots and Rochdale Development Agency.

“Peter’s Field is an astonishing work… a compelling, passionate performance, radio-ballad-like, evocative and haunting.” - Songlines