Leslie Crichton Porteous (1901–1991) was a writer (writing under the name of Crichton Porteous) of fiction and

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

– books, articles and short stories – many of them about life in the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...

of northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and often set in specific Peak locations (''Toad Hole'' and ''Broken River'', for example, are set in the Derwent Valley). Born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, Porteous grew up near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, but spent a lot of time in the Peak during holidays as a child, and later moved to live there, firstly to

Combs, Derbyshire Combs is a small village in Derbyshire, England, in the civil parish of Chapel-en-le-Frith and the Peak District National Park. The village is bounded to the east, west and south by gritstone edges and moorland, the highest of which is Black E ...

, near

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the upperland areas between the Saxon lands (belo ...

, and later to

Darley Dale Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, on the River Derwent and the A6 road. The town forms part ...

, 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 Werneth Low (; ) is a hill in Greater Manchester, England, and a part of the Pennines. It is located on the borders of Stockport and Tameside, rising to a height of . The villages of Woodley, Greave, Gee Cross, Mottram and Romiley lie on the s ...

. 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'' (1938) * ''Teamsman'' (1939) * ''Land Truant'' (1940) * ''The Cottage'' (1941) * ''The Farm by the Lake'' (1942) * ''The Snow'' (1944) * ''The Earth Remains'' (1945) * ''Sons of the Farm'' (1948) * ''Pioneers of Fertility'' (1948) * ''The Beauty and Mystery of Well Dressing'' (1949) * ''Changing Valley'' (1950) * ''Derbyshire'' (1950) * ''Wild Acres'' (1951) * ''Caves and Cavern'' (1951) * ''Call of the Soil'' (1953) * ''Chuckling Joe'' (1954) * ''Peakland'' (1954) * ''Man of the Moors'' (1954) * ''Battle Mound'' (1955) * ''Death in the Field'' (1956) * ''Broken River'' (1956) * ''Great Men of Derbyshire'' (1956) * ''Lucky Columbel'' (1959) * ''Toad Hole'' (1960) * ''Pill Boxes and Bandages'' (1960) * ''Plays: Batchelor Love and Dickies Scull'' (1960) * ''Strike'' (1962) * ''Portrait of Peakland'' (1963) * ''Man of the Fields'' (with S. Looker) (1965) * ''Pictorial Derbyshire'' (1970, 1977) * ''Ancient Customs of Derbyshire'' (1960, 1985)

References

A biographyDerbyshire Folk biography
This link is now redundant. {{DEFAULTSORT:Porteous, Crichton English non-fiction outdoors writers People from Darley Dale 1901 births 1991 deaths People from High Peak, Derbyshire