Be Kinder - a Cultural Trespass

On 24th April 1932 groups of like-minded people with a passion for walking in the hills boarded trains at Manchester and Sheffield. They headed out with a plan to meet at Hayfield and Edale. On arrival the crowds rallied together and listened to rousing speeches before they began their walk. From both sides of Kinder Scout they walked from the valleys up towards Kinder, with a mission to trespass off the footpath and onto open countryside- an illegal act at that time. Police and gamekeepers were waiting for them- violent scuffles ensued and arrests were made. Some of the trespassers were subsequently imprisoned, generating a national response of protest.

Momentum was building- the right to roam in open country had long been called for and this event catapulted it to the national headlines. The National Parks and Countryside Act was passed in1949 acknowledging the right and the need for us all to be able access open spaces. The Peak District National Park was the first national park to be created in 1951. This year marks its 70th anniversary.

Trespassers head to the Peak District hills (National Trust)

The story

‘There are indeed many good things in life which may be unequally apportioned and no such serious loss arise; but the need of quiet, the need of air, and I believe the sight of sky and of things growing, seem human needs, common to all men.’

- Octavia Hill, co-founder of the National Trust, 1985.

The project

I was in the fortunate position when working for the National Trust in the Peak District, to lead a project inspired by the story of the Kinder Mass Trespass. The story was brought to life through ‘People’s Landscapes’, the National Trust’s Public Programme of 2019, focusing on Places of Protest to commemorate the bicentenary of the Peterloo Massacre. Working with the High Peak National Trust team and producer Kate Stoddart, this project brought in the talents of artists Jarvis Cocker and Jeremy Deller. Be Kinder - a cultural trespass - was born.

Graphics for the trail map were inspired by orienteering symbols

The Be Kinder trail worked its way from Edale station and along the valley in the footsteps of some of those original trespassers. The bright pink waymarkers and orienteering style graphics by Peter and Paul kept visitors on the route. The Penny Pot café provided the first stop, with Ruth Ewan’s ‘A Jukebox Trying to Change the World’, offering over 3000 songs of protest to choose from. There were fortune cookies to collect, each one revealed a phrase to make you stop and think, taken from Jon McGregor’s novel ‘Reservoir 13’, set in the High Peak.

At Barber Booth, a stop at the small Methodist chapel greeted visitors with glowing lightboxes, produced by artists INSTAR on the theme of nature, climate change and access, designed co-creatively with local community groups of all ages.

Further along the valley, two small tents stood in a wide-open field, printed with original photos of the trespass, designed by Jeremy Deller, created by Fraser Muggeridge and Field Candy.

Glowing lightboxes produced by INSTAR and designed with local community groups

Jeremy Deller and Jarvis Cocker by the protest tents (credit: Rod Kirkpatrick for National Trust)

At the damp mossy phone box in Upper Booth, visitors collected a Jeremy Deller designed ‘escort card’. If they called the freephone number they could listen to Jarvis Cocker quoting Benny Rothman, the lead trespasser, when he stood in court.

'We ramblers, after a hard week’s work, in smokey towns and cities, go out rambling for relaxation and fresh air. And we find the finest rambling country is closed to us … Our request, or demand, for access to all peaks and uncultivated moorland is nothing unreasonable'.

- Benny Rothman, aged 21, in his defence at Derby Assizes before being imprisoned for his part in the 1932 Kinder Trespass.

‘Escort’ cards collected from the phone box

Further along the valley was a small barn which was turned into a cinebarn. Here, visitors sat to watch a series of film clips curated by Jarvis Cocker, with his message:

This project is about reinforcing the original trespassers’ message: the landscape belongs to everyone – whilst making the point that the preservation of the landscape has now become EVERYONE’S responsibility.

Be kind to the landscape.

Be kind to the environment.

Then stop, close your eyes for a moment and think of how to be kinder.

To Be Kinder.

- Jarvis Cocker

The partners and funders

Partners involved in the project were the Peak District National Park, The Ramblers Association, the Kinder and High Peak Advisory Group, Edale Parish Council, the Edale community, farmers and landowners, the Penny Pot café, Moors for the Future, Network Rail, Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly Stations, High Peak and Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership, Friends of Edale station, OPUS Sheffield, Edale Junior Rangers, Hope Valley College, Edale and Hope Primary school

The project was funded by Arts Council England, National Trust, Art Fund and National Trust supporters form the Peak District and Leicester associations.

If you’d like to hear more about this project and learn from it, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

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