Crichton Porteous


Leslie Crichton Porteous was a writer of fiction and non-fiction – books, articles and short stories – many of them about life in the Peak District of northern England, and often set in specific Peak locations.
Born in Leeds, Porteous grew up near Manchester, but spent a lot of time in the Peak during holidays as a child, and later moved to live there, firstly to Combs, Derbyshire, near Chapel-en-le-Frith, and later to Darley Dale, near Matlock, where he lived until his death, aged 89.
As a boy, Crichton Porteous had a great interest in reading and writing, and from the age of fourteen he kept a daily journal; these journals later proved a useful reference for his work. After working on farms he moved into newspapers, working his way up to become assistant editor of the Northern Daily Mail. As a freelance writer, his first book, Farmer's Creed, was published in 1938. This book recounted his memoirs about his time as a farm worker on Werneth Low.
Today his work has been opened to a new audience through the show entitled In the Footsteps of Crichton Porteous, which toured widely in England, and particularly in the north-west. The show used his books to retrace some of the locations featured.

List of published books

  • Farmer's Creed
  • Teamsman
  • Land Truant
  • The Cottage
  • The Farm by the Lake
  • The Snow
  • The Earth Remains
  • Sons of the Farm
  • Pioneers of Fertility
  • The Beauty and Mystery of Well Dressing
  • Changing Valley
  • Derbyshire
  • Wild Acres
  • Caves and Cavern
  • Call of the Soil
  • Chuckling Joe
  • Peakland
  • Man of the Moors
  • Battle Mound
  • Death in the Field
  • Broken River
  • Great Men of Derbyshire
  • Lucky Columbel
  • Toad Hole
  • Pill Boxes and Bandages
  • Plays: Batchelor Love and Dickies Scull
  • Strike
  • Portrait of Peakland
  • Man of the Fields
  • Pictorial Derbyshire
  • ''Ancient Customs of Derbyshire''