Look out for the markers around Wirksworth town from Saturday 11 September 2010.

Don’t Shoot the Messenger (Wirksworth) is a site specific, downloadable binaural audio sound walk, inspired by the adaptation of one of the most common ‘city birds’- the feral pigeon. ’City birds’ is the terminology given to species, always ready to exploit a potential food source or a suitable nesting site. The walk takes the form of a tour guide based on the exploration of public space, including spaces where pigeons nest and roost. The walk addresses the notion of the pigeon as vermin and celebrate the important roles throughout history.

The soundscape has been constructed (via in-ear microphones), using layers of recordings including ambient sounds of the city, with directional instructions and a narrative.  Using theories of psychogeography, the narrative will explore my own experience of the city as well as local residents and commuters and the notion of a pigeon’s perspective looking down onto the city.

Download all tracks and add to an audio device to listen to in Wirksworth town.  Each track has 10 minutes of silence at the end to enable listeners to have more control over the pace of the walk.  The sound walk will take approximately 16 minutes to complete.

All tracks have been recorded using in- ear microphones to produce binaural audio recordings and need to be Listened to with stereo headphones.

Download Track 1 (with extra 10 mins) (16 .9 mb)

Download Track 2 (with extra 10 mins) (18.3 mb)

Download Track 3 (with extra 10 mins) (14.1 mb)

Download Track 4 (with extra 10 mins) (15.5 mb)

Each track will take between 1 – 3 mins to download.

To listen to Don’t shoot the Messenger pick up an mp3 player and headphones from the Heritage Centre from Sat 11 – 26 Sept 2010.   Pick up a map and (if you are loaning an MP3 player), some simple instructions from the Heritage Centre, Crown Yard, Market Place, Wirksworth, Matlock DE4 4ET.  Call: 01629 825 225

All tracks have been recorded using in- ear microphones to produce binaural audio recordings and need to be Listened to with stereo headphones.

Track 1 (4.45 mins)

Track 2 (6 mins)

Track 3 (2.30 mins)

Track 4 (3.30 mins)

Thank you to everyone at Wirksworth Festival for being super supportive and for letting me use the offices to edit the sound walk.

Thanks to everyone that agreed to let me interview them- Marion, Margaret, Jez, Evan and the two Joan’s from the Heritage Centre… and to those that were recorded as I was passing by them.

Thanks to Mark for letting me use his beautiful song- The King of Rome.

Editing the sound walk together and trying to make sure that each track has enough detail to guide the listener around the town can be a challenge.  The timing of the walk is important, so trying to guess how slow or fast people will walk (I can be pretty speedy, so have had to slow down to a more relaxed pace!)

Ive tested the sound walk by listening to it at Wirksworth and following the route I will take listeners on.  Ive visited Wirksworth many times to test the walk, during the day, at night, in the sunshine and in the pouring rain… so if anyone lives in Wirksworth they may have noticed a lady wearing headphones, carrying a note book, with a pen in her mouth, walking the same route again and again.

The lovely people that run Wirksworth Festival have been very generous when it comes to letting me use their offices to edit the sound track.  So a big thank you is owed to them all!

Margaret who has lived in Wirksworth for 15 years and has ran The Wild Cherry B&B for 4 and a half years, kindly agreed to let me interview her for the sound walk.

Margaret opened the b&b because she loves people and loves to share.  In the sound walk she has described some of her experiences with guests, including a couple that design rockets and a lady obsessed with Virginia Woolf.
Margaret brought her daughter two doves as a birthday present, that are currently kept under a net in her garden.  The homing net is used so for approx 8 weeks so that the doves know where ‘home’ is, they are then free to come and go as they please.

Margaret hopes to one day have a large flock of doves to fill the skies and compliment the outstanding views from her b&b on Green Hill.

Margaret outside The Wild Cherry b&b

Margaret's daughter's doves in a homing net in the garden.

The scoffing sound of the hungry doves eating their seed has been added to the sound walk

Spending my weekends in Wirksworth is becoming a regular thing.  I actually feel like its my second home, the people are lovely and welcoming and the tea rooms and cafe’s do a great selection tea and cakes- that me sorted.

Last weekend I had the chance to interview more residents and to take a closer look at the town with a short guided tour from Marion, who lives in the round house, just off the Causeway.

Today (15 Aug) Ive decided to change the route for Don’t Shoot the Messenger (sound walk), because  I didn’t feel as though it was taking listeners high up enough, to be able to view the town from above (from a birds eye view) and this was one of the most important criteria for this walk in particular.  It would also be a great shame not to show off the many windy steep pathways that lead to some breath taking views… some that I have only discovered through my meandering today.

I did walk all the way to the top of the Dale to take a look at the middle peak quarry.  It is a surreal and beautiful place, but a long way for listeners to walk and a lot of audio time for me to fill!  When visitors come across a location such as this for the first time, I think it is important to experience it with all your senses and not via a sound walk.

The Don’t Shoot the Messenger sound walk, will now take listeners up the Dale (not all the way to the top!) and down Green Hill, so strong legs and sensible shoes are a must for these majorly steep hills.

The bottom of Green hill - its steeper than it looks!

Click to enlarge poster

If you would like to share your stories of Wirksworth, please contact me at lucystevensaudio@gmail.com. I am hoping to be in Wirksworth on the following dates to discuss your stories.  Venue TBC.

July

Sat 3, Sun 4, Mon 5, Sat 17, Sun 18, Mon 19

August

Sat 7, Sun 8, Sat 15, Sat 21 and Sat 28

22 June 2010

St Mary's Church

Wirksworth is a small market town in Derbyshire, on the border of Amber Valley and Derbyshire Dales districts with a population of 9,000.

The Story of Wirksworth (based at the Wirksworth Heritage Centre) encompases the history of the town from prehistoric times to the modern day.  The prosperity of the town was built on lead mining which declined in the nineteenth century.  Quarrying and the manufacture of tape then became the principal occupations which have only recently died out.

Wirksworth Heritage Centre is a useful resource to residents and tourists wanting to find out more about:

• The Steeple Grange Light Railway, go on a journey through dramatic limestone scenery.
• The Town Hall built in 1873, the hall’s facilities are popular for leisure and social events.
• St. Mary’s Church is believed to date back to around 653 AD and contains Saxon carvings.
• The Adam Bede Cottage, made famous by Author George Eliot’s book, Adam Bede.
• The Gell family, a family of wealthy lead merchants with a 600 year history within the town.
• The textile mills, made famous for producing the red tape used on legal and government documents.
• Moot Hall, a miners’ court still exists, though the present building dates from 1814.
• Babington House, used as a workhouse and a hospital from 1724 to 1829. It is located on Green Hill.
• A short story A Wintry Peacock by written by D.H Lawrence during the bitter winter of 1918-19.
• The town as a host for television programmes, including Peak Practice and the BBC’s Casualty.
• Annual Well dressing events, to celebrate the arrival of piped water.
  
• The Puzzle gardens- a collection of houses perched on the hillside above the Dale.
• The remains of a Wooly Rhino found in the 19^th century at Carsington Pastures in the Dream Cave.

I found the following websites very useful when looking into the history of Wirksworth

www.wirksworth.org.uk A one-place-study of Wirksworth. This includes: census, church monuments, crimes, church wardens’ accounts, maps, a transcription of “Ince’s pedigrees”, monumental inscriptions, old photos, Parish Registers and wills collated by John Palmer.

www.wirksworth.net Wirksworth.net aims to develop a website to provide a digital information source to the people of Wirksworth and the surrounding area.  The resource will include opportunities for local people and groups to air views and to contribute content.