'Gordon Stainforth's
exuberantly idiosyncratic study of the Peak
District' – STEPHEN VENABLES
In his last big photographic study, The
Peak: Past and Present , Gordon Stainforth
turned his highly original eye to one of the
most popular National Parks in Britain. The
result was a work of great beauty and sensitivity,
standing proudly alongside his previous mountain
classics, Eyes to the Hills , Lakeland:
Landscape of Imagination and The
Cuillin . Here he placed more emphasis
than previously on the many layers of history
which have affected the landscape.
With the help of a stunning collection of photographs and an illuminating
text, he invites the reader, in the words of Daniel Defoe in 1726, 'to
travel with me through this howling wilderness in your imagination' and
to join him on a magical journey through a landscape where ancient Celtic
rituals mingle with the exploits of the modern rock-climbing.
Geoff Birtles commented in High: 'If you spend too much time analyising
how Gordon Stainforth takes you from 500BC to Seb Grieve you might be
better off train spotting; after all, I don't hear Star Trek fans arguing
about the rights and wrongs of time warp. This is a good journey and
the trick is to sit back and enjoy it.'
In 1998 The Peak was shortlisted
for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain
Literature, and in 2000, for the Best Book
of Mountain Literature at the Banff Mountain
Book Festival, and for the Portico Prize.
No longer in print.
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