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The Derbyshire Portway Project > Click here to follow the Portway project blog > Click here to view the Portway catalogue Following the publication of Stephen Bailey's walking guide to the Derbyshire Portway in Spring 2008, I began exploring and painting this ancient 50 mile route which cuts across the county from Stapleford on the Derbyshire Nottinghamshire border, through the Peak District to Mam Tor near Castleton. I am accompanied in my travels by the faithful Elk, who has learned that 'Portway' means adventure! To read more about the route, please link to Stephen Bailey's Derbyshire Portway web site by clicking here. |
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There will be a major exhibition of paintings and drawings at Tregoning Fine Art, Derby in March 2009, and will be accompanied by a book, and hopefully a short film. For some time I had been searching for an historical Derbyshire route to form the basis for a series of paintings. Travelled by traders and pilgrims for centuries since prehistoric times, the Portway traverses a variety of landscapes, punctuated by churches, caves and hermitages. Stretches of sunken green lanes banked by outgrown hedgerows contrast with far reaching views from ridge tops. The travellers favoured high ground, avoiding where possible river crossings, but as a painter I am drawn to the water, returning many times to Alport and Ashford in the Water. |
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 Ashford in the Water |
 Dale Abbey Hermitage |
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The hermits caves immediately conjure images of the ancient traveller - the hermits apparently offering assistance to the road weary on particularly treacherous sections of the route. At Dale Abbey, the cave is beautifully hewn from the warm rock, overhung by lime trees. At Cratcliff Rocks, a natural stone overhang provides basic shelter amidst the overpowering gritstone. Although I am drawn back to this location it is with trepidation - the atmosphere is as dark as the wet gritstone. An alarm bark from Elk marks our retreat. The cave at Harborough rocks was inhabited by a family well into the 19th Century. We were looking forward to testing whether it is still weatherproof, after escaping the advances of a dozen horses and some frisky bullocks in a rainstorm, but were beaten to it by a gang of damp rock climbers. I am currently working on several autumnal pieces, although the current freezing fog is not ideal for my usually vivid palette, or my hands if trying to work outdoors. The stained glass glow of the churches along the route draws me towards working on some interior paintings............... |
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further information on the Portway Project, please contact Phil Tregoning,
Tregoning Fine Art, Derby. Tel. 01332 242427 > Click here to follow the Portway project blog > Click here to view the Portway catalogue |
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