Elsecar street festival will showcase performers from around the world
1 May 2019
Street theatre performers from around the world will perform in Elsecar, South Yorkshire this summer.
Acts from the UK, USA, Argentina and Australia will show off their skills at a new one-day festival at Elsecar Heritage Centre in June.
Described as a ‘feast for the senses’ the Puddler’s Fair street theatre celebration will take place at the heritage attraction on Saturday 8 June from 10.30am-4pm.
The free family event is part of the WE Great Place project, a partnership focused on Elsecar and Wentworth Woodhouse, who last year brought Man Engine to the region - a sell-out spectacle which drew thousands to both venues.
This year, WE Great Place will bring together street theatre acts who regularly perform at Glastonbury Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Covent Garden, and at major events around the world. As well as street performers and variety acts, there will be a range of food and drink stalls and opportunities to browse Elsecar’s independent shops and studios.
There will be opportunities for volunteers to work with textile artist Gemma Nemer on an art installation inspired by Wentworth and Elsecar’s puddlers and their iron-making skills, as well as with Barnsley poet laureate, Eloise Unerman. Young local dancers will also be performing.
Rachel Blake, programme manager at WE Great Place, said: “We’re thrilled to showcase some of the very best street performers from around the world right here in Elsecar alongside young creatives from the area. The event will be a celebration of street performance, dance, artisan makers and food and drink – it will be a real feast for the senses.
“This is just one of our exciting cultural activities happening this year, inspired by Earl Fitzwilliam's industrial empire at Elsecar and the vivid history linked to the fascinating Wentworth Woodhouse.”
The name Puddler’s celebrates Elsecar’s rich iron-making heritage. Puddling was a way of improving the quality of pig iron by reheating it in a secondary furnace to drive off impurities. In the 1860s there were 44 puddling furnaces at Elsecar, with hundreds of local men and boys employed in the trade.
John Tanner, project manager for Barnsley Museums at Elsecar Heritage Centre, said: “We are so pleased to welcome the Puddler’s Fair to the exciting calendar of events we already have throughout the year. We look forward to local communities and young people celebrating the world-class skills and achievements of the Elsecar iron puddlers who were the driving force behind Earl Fitzwilliam’s iron production.”
Sarah McLeod, chief executive of Wentworth Woodhouse, said: “It is great to see events in our area celebrating the rich shared heritage of the Fitzwilliams and we look forward to being part of this exciting event. If you come along you will be in for a real treat with performers telling some of the amazing stories of our great place - Wentworth and Elsecar.”
In March, WE Great Place announced a touring network partnership with Without Walls – a consortium of festivals dedicated to raising the profile of the UK outdoor arts sector on the international stage. It promotes artistic excellence among UK artists and challenges them to raise outdoor arts to new heights.
WE Great Place is a three-year partnership between Barnsley Council, Rotherham Council and the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, funded by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It aims to engage new audiences through art, culture, heritage activities and events.
Puddler’s Fair is free and open to everyone. For more information visit the WE Great Place Facebook page or email GreatPlace@Barnsley.gov.uk.
Notes to editors
Media contact: Charlotte Goldthorpe at Capital B Media on 01226 766900 or at charlotte@capitalbmedia.co.uk
Photos: Last year’s Man Engine event at Elsecar Heritage Centre
Video: Man Engine in action at last year’s event: https://youtu.be/bc54a210Yao
The Great Place project is a three-year partnership between Barnsley Council, Rotherham Council and the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, that is delivering a range of exciting activities inspired by the awe-inspiring Wentworth Woodhouse and the Earl Fitzwilliam’s incredible model industrial village at Elsecar. It is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.
About Elsecar
A bustling industrial village from the 1700s, Elsecar boomed thanks to its ironworks and thriving collieries, which were often visited by aristocrats and royalty. For 150 years it was the industrial estate village of Wentworth Woodhouse just a mile away and was developed by the Marquis of Rockingham and Earls Fitzwilliam into a model village.
Puddling was an integral part of iron making in the 1800s. It was a way of improving the quality of pig iron by reheating it in a secondary furnace to drive off impurities. It was hard, physical and dirty work. It was also highly skilled. A good puddler could produce about 1500kg of iron in a 12-hour shift. A bad puddler could lose more iron than he made, and the whole process would have to start again.
Puddlers played a vital role at both the Elsecar and Milton ironworks during the nineteenth century. In the 1860s there were 44 puddling furnaces at Elsecar and 25 at Milton, with hundreds of local men and boys employed in the trade.
About Wentworth Woodhouse
Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house, based in the village of Wentworth, Rotherham. One of the largest houses in Europe, it was once the home of the Fitzwilliam family. In 2017, it was bought by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, who are working to renovate the building and restore it to its former glory.
This press release was prepared by Capital B Media, a public relations and media training agency based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. For more information, please visit www.capitalbmedia.co.uk.
